reading Harry Potter
by FMPtrumpets
Summary: Harry and Ron were in the middle of a rescue when they suddenly found themselves in a room full of loved ones, the Dursley's, and a few who were supposed to be dead. All to read a few books about him. Can't his life ever be normal? Oh, and for some reason Snape is there, and they were told not to judge him without the full story. Great. slight Dumbledore bashing.
1. The room

Set during the time of the Deathly Hallows, right after Harry and Ron escape the cellar of Malfoy Manor, but before they rescue Hermione. Some people are brought from the summer a couple of days before Dudley's birthday.

* * *

Harry's POV

I had no idea what was happening. All I knew was, one minute Dobby is there and helping us escape Malfoy Manor, the next, we're in a room with a bunch of people, some of them who are supposed to be dead actually.

Oh well, help Hermione now, figure them out, later.

Me and Ron ran towards where Hermione was laying on the floor, still sobbing that she didn't know, she didn't know.

In the background I heard the small crowd go silent, somebody gasped, and footsteps started towards us, but Ron and I decided to ignore them for the moment in favor of Hermione. Something that I know Mad-Eye would have my head for.

I quickly grabbed Hermione's bag and summoned the Essence of Dittony, but before I could do anything with it I got shoved aside by Madam Pomphrey. She grabbed the vial out of my hand and her wand out of her pocket, then got to work.

Ron and I were reaching for our wands until we realized that, A) the only wand we have is Wormtail's, and B) Even if we did both have wands, we're outnumbered if these are enemies. Instead, we warily hand over what supplies we have and turn to face the others. Looking towards the people who I know that aren't dead, I notice one of them is Arthur Weasley. I warily ask him what the first thing he ever asked me was, "what is the function of a rubber duck." He said. Both me and Ron sighed in relief and looked at each other before we started laughing.

When we stopped, I looked up to see the room looking at me like I was crazy. I just shrugged and said, "What can I say, today was..." Me and Ron glanced at each other than at Hermione. "Stressful."

Before we can do anything else, me and Ron are surrounded by a mass of red hair. When the Weasley clan finally releases us, and Molly goes over to Madam Pomphrey to see if she can help, I take a closer look at everyone else in the room. Besides the Weasley's, there's Neville, Luna, Hagrid, Professors McGonagal, Snape, Sprout, Flitwick, wait. SNAPE?!

I cursed and grabbed the wand from Ron, pointing it at Snape. Everyone else from my time, for I'm assuming that we're dealing with time travel here because this is just too weird, looked around and noticed him too.

Dumbledore, wow, he looks young, calmly stepped in front of him, raising a shield in front of them as he did so.

He calmly stated, "I do not know what happened in your time, but I will not allow harm to come to members of my staff."

Needless to say, we had a bit of a staring contest. Finally I snorted and lowered my wand. "Fine, but I never could and never will understand why you have a Death Eater on your staff, _sir_."

Everyone else from school nodded in agreement. That's when I got a good look at the Neville. He didn't look so good. I went over to get a closer look, finally asking, "Carrows?" He just nodded. I sighed, then turned to glare at Snape before going back to seeing who else was in the room.

I also saw Mr. Olivander, who I quietly pointed out to Madam Pomphrey, she bustled him over to where she was taking care of Hermione so she could keep an eye on both of them easier.

Then there was Remus, and for some odd reason two sets of Dursley's. Great. Just what I needed. It was clear that one was younger than the other, but still.

As far as the people who looked younger and/or should be dead, there was just Dumbledore, myself, Mrs. Figg, Moody, and the Dursley's. That was, until Sirius showed up, looking a little worse than when I first met him in the Shrieking Shack. Of course then, he'd had a whole year away from the Dementors and he'd told me that finding food around Hogsmeade or in the Forest was fairly easy. The problem most of the time had been catching it.

Both Dumbledore and Mrs. Figg started when they saw him, and Dumbledore and Moody raised their wands to do who knows what, when I jumped in front of them.

"Harry, step aside. You do not know who this-"

But I cut him off. "Actually, sir, I know exactly who he is and what he is accused of. I also know that he went away without a trial and the real traitor is now dead. Choked himself to death with his own hand not a half-hour ago. This is his wand." I showed him the wand, then tossed it to Olivander to identify.

His memory for wands is amazing.

He looked at it and claimed it as the wand he had been forced to make for Peter Pettigrew not two weeks ago.

Dumbledore looked disbelieving, but when he saw that everyone else from the future, even Snape reluctantly, backed my story up about Sirius not doing it, he seemed resigned to the fact that he might have been wrong. But how... unless they switched last minute without telling anyone. Even Dumbledore.

Moody narrowed his eyes at Dumbledore for the 'without a trial' comment. As an old Auror, that would probably not sit well with him.

Everyone could tell when Dumbledore reached this conclusion, and Sirius just barked out a laugh, "Finally willing to believe me? Ha, that's a laugh." He turned to me and croaked out, "So, the rat is finally dead?"

Moody frowned, thinking about something, before his face cleared as if he just realized something. "I knew the trail you left was too easily followed, did anyone believe me? No! Did they trust the one who trained the boy to know how said boy thinks? No! Bunch of political idiots." He muttered. He kept muttering about idiots and Sirius being the best he ever trained. Sirius just stared at him for a moment, then blinked and turned back to me waiting for his answer.

I just nodded. Some of the shadow seemed to leave his face. Then he seemed to realize that not everyone in this room is the same age that they should be. He turned to Remus in question, but before Remus could answer a note, a table, some couches, and a book appeared. Some medical supplies also appeared near Madam Pomphrey and Molly, which they both seemed very relieved to see. Mr. Ollivander's injuries were extensive, and Hermione looked like she had been tortured.

Sirius noticed them in the corner, I followed his gaze and just told him, "Your lunatic cousin sends her regards."

Moody looked up sharply from where he was inspecting the new additions to the room. Everyone looked at me startled. Especially Dumbledore, not that I really blame him. After all, the only lunatic cousin of Sirius's who would carve a word like that is supposed to be in Azkaban. I laughed dryly, "long story." Luna just nodded, looking sad. After all, she had been in that cellar with us, she heard the screaming just like we did.

When Sirius continued to give me that look, man I missed him so much, I caved. "Long story short, the three of us," I gestured to Ron and Hermione as well as myself, "were on the run from Death Eaters, we got caught and taken to Malfoy Manor. Greyback sends his regards too Remus." Remus paled. "Bellatrix was there, Ron and me got sent to the cellars so she could question Hermione, and we met Luna and Mr. Ollivander down there as well. We were in the middle of our escape when we ended up here. Oh, and Dean was with us too..." I shrugged. "Just another day running from Moldyshorts." I said that last part under my breath so that hopefully nobody without canine hearing would hear.

Remus and Sirius looked up startled. I sighed, summoned our bag of stuff, and fished out some chocolate (we made sure to get some after we ran into that Muggle village with Dementors in it) for Sirius as well as fresh clothes and the Cloak so me and Ron could change. I also tossed some of Hermione' s clothes in her direction so she could change when Madam Pomphrey was done with her.

Through my entire story, the little me was just staring, he was obviously hoping this was a dream, sorry kid, take a good look at your future.

Finally, I grabbed the note, to Moody's displeasure (he didn't get to finish with all his charms and paranoid Auror stuff) read it to myself, and suggested that everyone sit down, we were going to be here a while.

I caught _Harry_ on his way to sit at the _Dursley's_ feet, and instead steered him towards Sirius.

Needless to say, Sirius looked like Christmas had just come early many times over. First he's out of Azkaban, and now he gets to be with his godson. I smiled softly at him, then read the note out loud.

 _Dear Gang,_

 _So, let's just be honest here, Hermione is a genius. She somehow found a way to put memories in a book, then send that book back in time, and, on top of that, bring multiple people from two different time periods! So, yeah, she's a genius._

 _Onto a couple of rules before we get to why we are here. No hurting anybody, that should go without saying. Not even the muggles, no matter how much they may deserve it._ (all the Dursley's gulped here) _No jumping to conclusions about a person's actions until you know ALL the facts. And, just, well, no fighting, really. Dumbledore will also repair Harry's broken wand, since the Elder Wand can do that._ (Dumbledore also gulped for some reason)

 _Now, onto why we are here. Frankly, we won. But, the cost was high. Quite a few people in the room with you died. People I really tried to protect. I'm sorry. I failed the people I cared about most. That's why you are there. To learn about your future or past, whichever it may be, so Dumbledore doesn't make the same mistakes. Yes, I know not many of you are actually from the past, but there's enough._

 _Harry, there's also a few things you need to know now before it's too late. Because Dumbledore did a really bad job of telling you what and when you needed to know._

 _This room will provide for your needs, bedrooms should show up when you need them, ask for food and it shall appear, Hermione don't even start with that blasted theorem again, just go with it._ (Ron and Harry snickered at that, glancing over at Hermione to see her glaring at the note.)

 _So, yeah, there are 7 books total. Finish one and the next will appear._

 _Have fun,_

 _Harry_

Before anybody did anything else, I grabbed my poor broken phoenix wand and held it out to Dumbledore. He looked up and sighed before wordlessly repairing it. I was so happy to have it back I started levitating and zooming whatever I could across the room.

Ron smiled, he hadn't seen me this happy about something in a long time. _Harry_ just looked on in awe. Finally, Ginny got me to calm down, giggling all the while, and Dumbledore picked up the book while Sirius summoned food. Lots and lots of food.

He grabbed some for himself before pausing, looked at _Harry_ critically, then grabbed another plate and filled it before handing it to him. _Harry_ just stared at it in wonder, and I remembered the feeling of seeing that much food in one spot before. Well, that much food that wasn't in front of Dudley. I sighed, I knew exactly what was going through his head.

For a moment the kid stared at his plate, then glanced at Sirius, who was watching him to make sure he ate, then at me. I nodded encouragingly. 'Yes,' I thought, 'you can trust him, he's not like Uncle Vernon.' He glanced at Sirius again, then dug in. He ate like he would never see food again. Which I find completely understandable, having lived in his shoes, shoot, I WAS him. Literally.

Sirius nodded, satisfied, before he started eating too. Both of them ate like starving people.

His disbelief at being HANDED food and expected to eat it did not go unnoticed by the adults, neither did the way he ate. I noticed the women send disapproving looks the Dursley's way. Moody just narrowed his eye suspiciously while the fake one trained itself on the Dursley's. It didn't look like it was going anywhere anytime soon.

The Dursley's didn't notice the looks, although the younger set of Dursley's finally seemed to find their voices, and _Uncle Vernon_ spent the next roughly half-hour going on about how he demanded to be returned to his home at once, that this was kidnapping, how they were normal and freaks had no business being anywhere around them, blah, blah, blah. Finally, I had enough of them and silenced it. Looking to my set of Dursley's to see if they wanted the same treatment.

Moody narrowed his good eye and summoned a sheaf of parchment and a quill and started writing something./p

I quickly asked the wizards around me to kindly ignore his uncle and his ramblings, their lives would be easier if they did. Sirius just looked at me.

Dumbledore cleared his throat as he started to read.

 **"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Chapter one, the Boy who Lived"**


	2. Boy Who Lived

Disclaimer: I do not own anybody from this series or anything else in bold. Sadly, I wish I did.

I got a warning to be careful how I go about this, thank you so much! So, I'm not going to have the full text from the book, there will still be something there though so you don't have to search through your copies to figure out what is going on. If you want to use your copies, go for it. At least you'll be able to follow it easier than if I just cut out text all together.

I might leave the more intense scenes or chapters intact though, because lets face it, there's just so much there and it would be such a shame to cut those out.

 _people from the past if they have an older counter-part_ in the reading, everyone else will be normal font.

Also, I know that in the books Harry is never mentioned as a big prankster, but in this he is.

* * *

 **"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Chapter one. the Boy who Lived."** Dumbledore read.

Harry groaned and banged his head against the back of the couch he was sharing with Ron. He stopped when Hermione came over, Madam Pomfrey finally done with her for now, as long as she took it easy.

When he got quizzical glances over his reaction to the title, he just nodded at Ginny, silently asking her to explain.

As all the Weasley's, even Arthur, were laughing, she had to calm down before she could inform the room at large that Harry absolutely hated his fame and everything to do with being famous. He especially hated being called the Boy-Who-Lived!

Snape looked at him in interest. He thought the Boy-Who-Lived loved the attention.

Now people understood, and a few even looked at him with pity, before he loudly announced that he didn't want or need pity.

 **(Mr. and Mrs... thank you very much.)**

Ginny looked over the Dursley's, all six of them, and innocently asked them to define normal.

"The opposite of what that boy is!" Both Vernon's burst out in unison. Older Vernon even went so far as to add that his Dudder's was the very definition of normal.

Which made Dudley and Harry look at each other and start laughing, and _Dudley_ to look at _Harry_ in superiority.

That was, until both Vernon's found themselves confronted with some very angry witches over the fact that this man had just implied that "their son" was abnormal. Moody just sat by and watched, comparing _Dudley_ and _Harry_ , and writing on his parchment.

The _Dursley's_ were also a little surprised that Dudley and Harry seemed to have an inside joke. Why were they getting along?!

 **(They were the last... with such nonsense.)**

Many eyebrows went up around the room. Especially from those who were closest to Harry or had ever had a conversation, however fleeting, with either Petunia or Vernon. Snape in particular felt like he knew what was coming, these books were going to start challenging his beliefs on how the Potter boy was raised before Hogwarts.

He glanced at Moody and he knew that either way, the younger boy was probably going to be out of that house as soon as they left this room.

 **(Mr. Dursley... which made drills.)**

Arthur opened his mouth but Hermione cut him off by conjuring a parchment and quill and asking him to write down the objects he doesn't know, and they will tell him about them later.

He nodded, looking a little disappointed that he had to wait, but obediently wrote it down.

The rest of the Weasley's were shaking in silent laughter that Hermione could predict their dad so well.

 **(He was a big... spying on the neighbors.)**

All four adult Dursley's spluttered at how they were described.

The Petunia's were also very offended that she could ever be accused of spying on the neighbors, and said as much.

Until... "So, Aunt Petunia. What did Mrs. Smith do out in her flowerbed the other day?" _Harry_ asked innocently.

"Ooooh, it was so odd, I was watching out the window and all of a sudden, I saw Mrs. Smith... BOY! HOW DARE YOU!" _Petunia_ finished off with a shriek.

She stood to go grab _Harry,_ but Sirius stood up, still a little shaky from Azkaban but better, and glared until she sat back down. The laughter in the room only increased from the quiet laughter of people trying not to actually laugh, to the full blown laughter of people actually rolling on the floor laughing. Moody growled and took his wand out, keeping it in hand while his fake eye fixed itself on the Dursleys, he was not taking an eye off them for a second.

When she had stood up, _Harry_ seemed to shrink in on himself, and the mischievous grin that Gryffindors everywhere knew to run away from vanished. When Sirius stood up to defend him, _Harry_ stared at him in disbelief.

Just who is this guy and why does he care so much? First he gives him food and waits for him to start eating before touching his own food, and then he stands up to Aunt Petunia for him!

All the Gryffindors in the room were shocked that this woman had made that grin of his disappear so quickly. Not even McGonagall was safe from what that grin meant! Even Moody had learned to be extra vigilante when he saw that look, and that was saying something.

Harry caught his look and decided that he better formally introduce the two later. His younger self looked very confused.

 **(The Dursleys had a... finer boy anywhere.)**

 _Dudley_ puffed himself up proudly. Dudley saw this and resolved to talk to his younger self later on about his attitude. And his health, he couldn't believe he had once been so large! I guess an encounter with Dementor's really does change lives.

While Dudley wondered about his younger self, both Harry's seemed to lose control over their ability, which they had perfected over the years, mind you, not to laugh. It was just too much to take in.

In fact, _Harry_ started laughing so hard that Sirius had to take his plate away for fear of it going all over the place, and then Sirius had to help him out when he started choking on what little food had been in his mouth when he started laughing.

People had to smile at how good the man fresh out of Azkaban was with little Harry. Those from the future smiled sadly remembering how all Sirius ever wanted to do was take care of Harry. Moody resolved to get answers regarding Sirius first thing he did, while he got the ball rolling for the trial, he could go get _Harry._

Several of them shot Dumbledore dark looks. In the end it had been him ordering him to stay away from Harry, stay at Grimmauld Place.

 **(The Dursleys had... somebody would discover it.)**

"Sorry to break this to you, but everybody in our world knows your related to wizards. What they don't understand is how you can... act... the way you do about it." Harry said. Rather bluntly too. The _Dursley's_ looked horrified, while the Dursley's looked like they understood something.

After all, Diggle had seemed pretty shocked at how they treated Harry when they left, that red-haired guy who blew up their living room hadn't seemed to understand either why they wouldn't even tell Harry good-bye when they took him to their house that one summer.

 **(They didn't think... about the Potters.)**

Both Remus and Sirius froze. Moody growled.

Sirius snarled, "What about the Potters?"

All Dursley's froze, while the futures started shaking from trying not to laugh again.

Sure they were mad about that too, but watching the Dursley's so terrified of Sirius was just pure gold! Of course, they knew exactly how he could be when he got really mad, but they also knew that very little actually got him mad.

Dumbledore started wondering just what had happened that Halloween, and why Sirius is acting this way if he betrayed the Potters.

 **(Mrs. Potter was... good-for-nothing husband)**

All the futures, Dumbledore too, froze. That sentence had just been said in from of _Sirius_ and _Remus_. Two men who considered James their brother.

The stillness was broken when Harry and Ron jumped up to grab Sirius and Remus, both of whom had suddenly lunged for the Dursley's. Harry grabbed Sirius while Ron took Remus, of course, with Remus' werewolf strength it didn't take long for Charlie to come over to give him a hand.

It was probably lucky for Sirius too that he was so angry that Molly couldn't understand what he was saying. Otherwise she would've lit him a new one for using such language around children.

Eventually Harry, Ron, and Charlie managed to drag the two of them away and through a door that suddenly appeared. Once the door slammed shut behind them, Mrs. Weasley turned the Dursley's and sternly warned them against saying anything against James and Lily Potter in the future.

Those two men had been James' best friends and they were very protective of him and Harry.

Moody growled at them to watch their tongues because he had been the one to teach James Potter everything he knew, and he was one of the best Aurors in the division, right up their with Sirius Black. In fact, both James and Sirius had been up for promotions to the elite unit attached to the Department of Mysteries when James took his family into hiding.

The younger Dursley's paled, they had a bad feeling that there were going to be more comments similar to the latest one in these books, and if the cupboard was found out about... they were dead.

The older Dursley's weren't quite as concerned, they had already met Remus, they already heard all about Sirius, and they already knew exactly what would happen to them if Harry didn't keep them away like he just had. Now they just had to hope the boy would really protect them.

While the five boys were gone, hopefully calming Remus and Sirius down and warning them that comments like that were going to happen in the book and there was nothing to be done about it, _Harry_ took the opportunity to ask what really happened to his parents, he thought they were killed driving drunk.

The innocent question made many futures freeze. Many of them had known James at school, many of them knew James through Harry or Remus and Sirius. But all of them knew that James had been a powerful and important wizard in the war.

They couldn't believe that the boy knew nothing about his own father. That that was all he had been told, and that with nothing else to go on, he believed it.

Nearly everyone turned to McGonagal to explain, after all, she was the Gryffindor head of house. She smiled gently and explained that his parents had been very important people. His father was the head of an old and powerful family in their world as well as being an Auror, and then when he had no idea what she meant by their world, she took him away to another newly appeared room to explain privately that he was a wizard, what that meant, and a little more about his parents.

Both groups came back to the main room at the same time, and _Harry_ made a beeline for Sirius when he saw him.

Sirius looked shocked but very happy as he led _Harry_ back to their couch, where they sat together. Sirius looked at the food wasted when he lunged for Petunia mournfully. Such perfectly good food... oh well, he was good for now. _Harry_ shook his head when he was asked if he was still hungry, he had already eaten more than he had that whole week.

 **(were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be.)**

Sirius barked out a laugh, "I think James would take that as a compliment. Wouldn't you agree Moony?"

Remus smiled. He had missed Sirius. "Why yes, Pads, I agree very much. How about you Harry?"

This was directed at the older Harry, who grinned and nodded his head.

 _Harry_ was happy to hear them talking about his father, now that he knew his father's name.

 **(The Dursleys shuddered... a child like that.)**

"What makes you think that James wanted his son mixing with yours?" Sirius asked coldly. He was in a very bad mood right now. Harry may have gotten him to calm down and promise not to attack them, but they were insulting his best friend... his _brother._

Nobody does that and gets away with it. In fact, he was already planning his revenge, Marauder's style.

Harry raised an eyebrow at his godfather. He may be fresh out of Azkaban at the moment, but Harry knew that look. This was going to be fun.

 **(When Mr. and Mrs... all over the country.)**

All the Professors froze. Tuesday? Mysterious and strange things? Their eyes slid towards Harry almost on their own.

 **(Mr. Dursley... boring tie for work,)**

Remus, Sirius, and the Weasley's all gagged at the thought of 'boring' ties.

 **(and Mrs. Dursley... into his high chair.)**

Dudley paled. He turned to Harry almost desperately.

"Please tell me I wasn't really that bad ALL these years." He begged.

Harry looked sympathetic and said, "Sorry, Dud, but I must not tell lies."

Ron and Hermione looked at Harry reproachfully while McGonagall growled. That evil toad. Harry smiled apologetically when he realized that it sounded like he was joking about that.

Dudley groaned and looked towards his younger self and _Harry_. The look he gave _Dudley_ was clear as day. "We are talking later."

 _Dudley_ just looked confused, what was there to talk about?

 **(None of... flutter past the window.)**

Everyone who felt like they knew what day this was couldn't help but be exasperated through their dread. Just because Voldemort was dead was no excuse to completely throw Muggle security out the window!

 **(At half past... cereal at the walls.)**

Molly looked very disapprovingly at both Dudley's. Her children never behaved that way.

Dudley looked at the book in horror. Had he really been like that?!

 _Dudley_ just looked embarrassed that other people were seeing him like that, he was not to be seen like that!

 **("Little tyke,"... left the house.)**

"YOUR OK WITH THAT KIND OF APPALLING BEHAVIOR?! WHAT KIND OF PARENTS ARE YOU?!" Molly shrieked. This was no way to discipline a child, he was going to grow up wild!

All the teacher's in the room, yes including Hagrid since he's a teacher too, despite it being Hagrid, were shaking their heads and muttering condolences to all of Dudley's school teachers. Moody was muttering condolences to the local law enforcement that would have to deal with him in the future.

All four Dursley adult looked highly offended that _this crowd_ was criticizing the parenting of normal people. Before they could say anything and dig a deeper whole for themselves, something is already being planned if he knew anything about Sirius Black, Harry loudly suggested that Dumbledore read.

Glaring around the room at whoever dared argue. Which was mostly towards the Dursley's.

 **(He got into... cat reading a map.)**

"Minnie!" Sirius cried/croaked. Some looked at him odd, but Remus and the Golden Trio were trying really hard not to laugh. The Dursley's were confused.

They were happy to see Sirius recovering so quickly from Azkaban. They knew how hard it had been in their time. Of course, in their time he didn't have Harry sitting right beside him the whole time... Harry had been with the Dursley's while he was running.

McGonagall just groaned at the name, how long was Sirius going to call her that?! Although, she had to admit that she didn't really mind, as long as he was alive, he could call her that all he liked. Not that she was going to tell him that...

 **(For a second,... It stared back.)**

Many of the wizards in the room chuckled. Yup, that was McGonagall alright.

 **(As Mr. Dursley drove... maps or signs.)**

All the wizards snorted. Shows what they know.

 **(Mr. Dursley gave... to get that day.)**

Fred, George, Remus and Sirius muttered, "Borrrrriiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnngggggggggggg."

 **(But on the edge... by something else.)**

"Distracted easily, this one is." Fred muttered. George looked around carefully at his mother before leaning down and whispering something in his ear.

Dumbledore being the observant person that he is, just then noticed his missing ear. He frowned and put the book down to ask what happened but noticed Harry staring at him, daring him to ask.

'It seems the future is a dark place. First the three of them came here in the middle of a rescue and escape, one of them having been tortured, all three of them are dirty like they've been running for a while. And now Mr. Weasley's ear looks like it was cursed off. Either my plans have completely failed, or... Everything is going exactly as planned and these are just the sacrifices.' Satisfied that everything seemed to be working out, even if it did seem to be dark times, he continued reading.

Harry resolved to talk to him later about him and his plans.

 **(As he sat in... People in cloaks.)**

All those who were pure-bloods and hadn't taken Muggle Studies (or had Lily Evans marry their best friend) were confused.

The Dursley's were also confused about why these weirdos were confused about cloaks being weird.

Harry laughed at everyone's faces before Hermione explained to the wizards that Muggles don't wear cloaks, and to the Muggles that cloaks were normal clothing for wizards.

The wizards nodded in understanding while the Dursley's nashed their teeth at the audacity of these people to not even wear normal clothes. **(a/n from now on, when I say Dursley's, just assume I'm talking about all four of the adults and _Dudley_ , unless otherwise stated.)**

 **(Mr. Dursley... in funny clothes-)**

The wizards eyebrows rose as they turned to look at him. They looked amused for some reason.

Just wait until Dursley really tells them what he thinks of their kind, they won't be very amused anymore.

 **(the getups... stupid new fashion.)**

The wizards snorted, although some of them were thinking, 'stupid?' They were also starting to wonder how a guy like Harry grew up with a man like this and still had a sense of humor.

 **(He drummed his... whispering excitedly together.)**

Those that hadn't already guessed what might have happened started to wonder. A couple of them came to the conclusion that the only thing that could possibly excite wizards enough that they completely ignored secrecy was that Halloween. They glanced at the Harry's sadly.

 **(Mr. Dursley was... The nerve of him!)**

A few of the wizards looked at each other. What was this Muggles problem? Who cared if somebody was dressed differently.

They resolved to ignore him as best as possible, although they had the sinking feeling that ignoring him was going to be easier said then done.

 **(But then it struck... yes, that would be it.)**

Eye-rolls from around the room were sent towards the Vernon's way. This Muggle was impossible.

 **(The traffic moved... mind back on drills.)**

"Well," Fred said hesitantly, "At least you are dedicated to your work..." He would have continued but trailed off at the look the Vernon's sent him.

The nerve of this freak, would probably never work a day in his life, how dare he talk to a normal person about work! Vernon didn't say anything though, and warned his younger self against it as well. He knew exactly what would happen if they got these freaks worked up, and Harry might not always stop them.

 **(Mr. Dursley always sat... after owl sped overhead).**

The older people (by age, not time-lines) groaned about that. Good-bye Statute of Secrecy.

 **(Most of them had... and shouted a bit more.)**

Ron whistled. "Hey Harry, think he likes to yell?"

Harry grimaced and muttered, "you have no idea."

 _Harry_ also grimaced. He had just come home from school with a better report card than Dudley. His ears were still ringing and his arm still hurt from where Uncle Vernon grabbed him to throw him in the cupboard until it was time to make dinner. They never did reach the cupboard though. He rubbed his arm where he'd been grabbed absently, it was already bruising.

Something Snape and Moody both noticed, Snape narrowed his eyes and debated for a moment before he pulled out a bruise balm, tossing it to the younger boy, gesturing to his arm and raising his eyebrow until the boy got the hint and started rubbing it into the bruise, carefully keeping it covered so nobody else would see it, especially not his new godfather. Moody scribbled something on a different sheet of parchment, this one was something he was going to give Madam Pomfrey for her to take a look at before they left here.

Sirius noticed the looks on their faces and Snape tossing the bruise balm over and exchanged looks with Remus. That didn't look good. They had already been wondering if this family was really the best to raising Harry. Now...

Sirius was so frustrated. Why had he gone after that rat! He should have just taken Harry, explained things to Dumbledore, and run if the old man tried to say otherwise. That had been the original plan after all, but then he started thinking about that rat, and he decided that he could come back for Harry after he made sure that the rat was no longer a threat.

He should have just gotten Harry first, explained the truth to Dumbledore, _then_ gone after the rat. Maybe then he wouldn't have such a bad feeling about the fact that these Muggles with no imagination and a hatred for anything 'not normal' raised his pup. At any rate, he would have been able to raise Harry himself.

 **(He was in a... walk across the road)**

The Harry's jaws hit the floor. Uncle Vernon walked somewhere willingly?! The world was ending!

The wizards all laughed at the look on their faces.

 **(to buy himself a bun from the bakery.)**

The Harry's picked up their jaws and nodded, looking relieved. The world was safe again.

Sirius chuckled at their antics. He loved this kid.

 **(He'd forgotten all about... but they made him uneasy.)**

The wizards were getting really annoyed at his anger towards anything different. Several of them were starting to chant in their heads, 'ignore the ignorant Muggle, ignore the ignorant Muggle...'

Normally, they wouldn't be this uptight, but they'd been living in a Voldemort-run world for about 6-7 months now. Their nerves were frayed with worry for their families, worry for the Trio, and worry for the fate of their whole way of life.

That and, this Muggles attitude reminded several of them too much of Death Eaters attitude towards Muggles and Muggle-borns.

 **(This bunch were whispering...-yes, their son, Harry-")**

That's when Harry knew what day this was. This was the day after his parents died. He looked towards Sirius and _Harry_.

Sirius caught his look and nodded reassuringly. He would be fine, he had _Harry_ to take care of, he would be fine.

 **(Mr. Dursley stopped dead.)**

Harry spoke up before the other pranksters in the room could say anything. "It's just a saying guys, he didn't actually die." He snickered. The usual pranksters looked disappointed.

The Dursley's looked disturbed, these freaks were... well, freaks! Not even knowing a figure of speech like that!

 **(Fear flooded him... but thought better of it.)**

 _Harry_ mumbled, "He can think?"

Remus only heard him because he was a werewolf, and he chuckled quietly. _Harry_ looked around startled, he hadn't thought anybody could hear him, he could be pretty quiet when he wanted to be.

 **(He dashed back... stroked his mustache, thinking...)**

Everyone who had ever spoken with Vernon or heard Harry talk about him raised their eyebrows. That must have hurt.

 **(no, he was being stupid.)**

Both Harry's and the Weasley's let out laughs that they quickly tried to cover up with coughs at Molly's disapproving look.

 **(Potter wasn't such an unusual name.)**

Sirius snorted, "maybe in the Muggle world its not, but in the wizarding world there is only one Potter family, and one Potter." He added the last part sadly, thinking that if he hadn't trusted that rat... there would still be three.

 **(He was sure... _was_ called Harry.)**

"You didn't even know your own nephews name?!" Molly shouted indignantly.

"It's ok, Mrs. Weasley. He learned it, I think..." Harry said the last part so quiet that only Remus heard him.

The werewolf looked over in alarm. He doesn't even know if his uncle knows his name? How could he not if he lived with him for 16 years?

Molly looked like she was about to argue, but Arthur laid a hand on her arm, he really didn't want to have this conversation right now.

 **(He'd never... been Harvey. Or Harold.)**

Both Harry's, Remus, and Sirius grumbled something under their breath that nobody quite caught, but the Dursley's could guess from Harry's face. They would have said something but Harry happened to be casually tapping his wand against his leg at the time. They'd never seen him use it, except for that night with Dudley, but they had seen what he could do without it.

Moody nodded in approval, that was a good scare tactic, with the added bonus of already having it out if they still didn't get the message.

 **(There was no... her- if _he's_ had a sister like that...)**

Snape and Sirius growled at that. There was absolutely nothing wrong with Lily!

Both Harry's looked at each other, silently agreeing that Uncle Vernon did have a sister 'like that'.

Out loud, Harry coughed, "Aunt Marge."

Several of the Weasley's burst out laughing while several of the other adults in the room looked at him reproachfully. That hadn't been funny.

Vernon had also not missed what was said. "Boy..." He made to get up, but a growl from Sirius sat him back down quick.

Sirius started to wonder, not that they had been there that long, but he hadn't heard, with the exception of Dudley, one of the Dursley's speak to Harry unless it was to yell at him for something everyone else thought was funny. They hadn't once said his name, and Remus had already silently communicated what Harry said earlier about his uncle probably not knowing his name even after 16 years of living in the same house. And then there were all his snide comments in the book about the wizarding world...

Honestly, from what he'd already observed in the half chapter they'd read, it was a miracle _Harry_ knew his own name.

Of course, neither Harry was about to tell the room that until he started Muggle school, he'd thought his own name had been Boy, although he responded to Freak just as often, with the occasional Potter when he was really in trouble. They didn't want the room to explode even more than it already had.

 **(but all the same, those..."Sorry," he grunted,)**

Both Harry's jaws really dropped this time. In fact, they both stood up, each staring at their respective uncle, and yelled, "You know how to say sorry?!" in absolute shock.

Everyone laughed, even though a few adults wondered about Harry's life with his relatives, until Vernon's glare made both Harry's pale and sit back down abruptly, both staring at the floor with their hands folded in their laps. A show of obedience that nobody had ever seen from the boy.

From the way Harry told his encounter's with Voldemort, not even Voldemort had gotten an ounce of cooperation from him, and that was with Voldemort holding Harry at wand-point and after subjecting him the Cruciatus a few times.

The difference was, Harry knew exactly what Voldemort was up to, which buttons were safe to push and when. Harry actually found him very predictable. He couldn't say the same of Uncle Vernon. Not even after living with him for so long, that and submissive behavior when it came to his Uncle was kind of ingrained. He didn't get hit often, but when he did...

 **(as the tiny old man... made passersby stare,)**

"Does that sound like Flitwick to any of you?" Fred asked the red-heads. They all grinned and nodded, looking towards the tiny professor, who was tomato red at the moment.

 **("Don't be sorry... happy, happy day!")**

Harry's face darkened. "Happy?! I get that people were glad he was gone and all, but...but." He couldn't finish, he was too indignant to get his words out.

People looked at him sadly, _Harry_ looked confused. Did he miss something?

Sirius looked sad and mad too, he understood and knew exactly where Harry was coming from.

Hermione gave Harry a hug while Ron grabbed a shoulder.

Flitwick sighed and stated softly, "I wasn't even thinking about that. The details were rumors at that moment, and, well- I didn't want to put stock in them. I didn't want to believe that they were really..." He trailed off miserably.

Harry gazed at him for a moment and then nodded.

 **(And the old... and walked off.)**

Harry whistled, "Impressive." At the questioning looks, he explained that it was impressive how a small guy like Flitwick could get his arms around a big guy like Uncle Vernon. Everyone compared their sizes for a moment before nodding that he had a point there.

 **(Mr. Dursley stood... approve of imagination.)**

The Weasley clan, Remus, and Sirius all turned to stare at the Dursley's incredulously. How could they not approve of imagination? It's what makes the world go 'round!

The Gryffindor's in the room turned to stare at Harry. Clearly he had escaped that mentality, all the pranks he himself pulled and then helped Fred and George with...

 **(As he pulled into..."Shoo!" said Mr. Dursley loudly.)**

Everybody laughed, they couldn't help it. The thought of this Muggle telling McGonagall to shoo like that... like she was a dog or something. They found the thought hilarious.

McGonagall looked miffed as she remembered this, it had taken all her self-control not to attack when he did that.

 **(The cat didn't move. It just gave him a stern look.)**

Just like McGonagall was giving him now.

The pranksters all burst out laughing, oh, the amount of times they'd all seen that look directed at them!

 **(Was this normal cat behavior?)**

"Nope, but it is Minnie behavior!" Sirius singsonged. The pranksters laughed, McGonagall looked annoyed, but everyone could see her lips twitching.

Everyone from the future was just glad that Sirius was already acting like his old self again, of course, he does have Harry next to him...

 **(Mr. Dursley wondered... anything to his wife.)**

"How'd that work for you?" Both Harry's asked cheekily. The Dursley's just glared, the Harry's exchanged glances, evil smirks on their faces.

Seems like they can communicate silently even better than the twins.

Even the Marauders felt chills at that smirk.

 **(Mrs. Dursley had... learned a new word ("Won't!").)**

The motherly types in the room growled at the manners of this child and the poor parenting of his parents.

Molly looked at the Dudley's and sternly told him what would have happened if he had behaved like that in her household.

All the Weasley boys grimaced and shifted uncomfortably, they didn't have to be told, they knew exactly what would have happened.

 **(Mr. Dursley tried to... Jim?" "Well, Ted,")**

The Trio sat up suddenly. "Ted Tonks?" Harry asked urgently.

The other futures looked startled, had they heard?

McGonagall looked at them and slowly said yes, then asked if they heard the news about him.

Harry sighed and slumped in his seat. "Yeah. Yeah we heard." He looked at Remus and sighed again.

Hermione whispered something in his ear while Sirius looked between his godsons, deciding that the older one needs him a bit more at that moment.

He leaned over and whispered in _Harry's_ ear, causing him to get up and motion Harry to switch him.

Harry did, and when he sat down he was engulfed in a hug from Sirius, who really wanted to know what happened to his godson and who hurt him so he could kill them. What's the point of being locked up for murder if you never even murdered anyone?

 **(said the weatherman,... whisper about the Potters...)**

McGonagall groaned. "See, this is why we have Muggle secrecy laws. If even this idiot can figure it out," she jerked her thumb back towards Vernon, "then who's to say others won't? I realize that he already knew about us, but he also actively tries to pretend we don't exist."

The other professors were nodding in agreement, so was Arthur.

Once Vernon finally realized that he had just been called an idiot, he started to stand up, opening his mouth to say something really smart that wouldn't get him killed at all.

Molly just turned and snarled, "Try it, I dare you." She'd had enough and he hadn't really done a whole lot yet. Must have been his very poor parenting...

 **(Mrs. Dursley came... didn't have a sister.)**

Sirius and Remus snarled. Snape looked murderously resigned, after all, he had grown up listening to Petunia's nonsense about her sister.

Of course, that didn't mean he was going to just put up with it.

 **("No," she said sharply... you know... her crowd.")**

Upon seeing the looks on many wizards faces, the Dursley's wisely kept silent.

 **(Mrs. Dursley sipped... He decided he didn't dare.)**

Many wizards coughed, "coward." The witches just raised an eyebrow. Those who ever had a husband knew that all men did that.

The Dursley's didn't seem to hear it though, due to the Silencio Harry had cast towards them when their muttering got annoying. He did not want to hear them.

 **(Instead he said... name, if you ask me.")**

 _Harry_ looked surprised that she had known his name.

Snape snarled something about names and grandfathers. Only Petunia seemed to have a clue as to what he was talking about. They both glared at Snape, while he glared right back.

Harry perked up, "Harry was my grandfathers name?" Snape stared at him in disbelief, it was one thing for Petunia to not talk about her sister, they had a bad relationship, but not to tell the boy about his own grandparents, _her_ parents? Snape realized that since he and Petunia were the only ones in the room who knew the Evans couple, and Petunia obviously wasn't going to say anything, he would have to suffer the boys presence and tell him something, he may not like the boy, but even James Potters spawn deserved to know about his family.

Sirius sighed and tried to run a hand through his tangled mess of hair. He really should have spoken with Dumbledore first, then taken care of Harry. Forget about the rat.

 **("Oh, es," said Mr. Dursley... he could bear it.)**

"Aww, what's wrong, afraid to say the word, 'wizard?'" Snape, surprisingly to everyone not aware of his history with Petunia, snarled.

Vernon glared at him and hissed that he didn't want to be associated with a bunch of freaks!

Now everyone was growling, hissing, or glaring at the Dursley's. Not even Molly's mantra that this was Harry's biological family, we can't hurt them, was keeping her temper in check.

These were Death Eaters in Muggle form!

The room barely restrained themselves from attacking, remembering the warning they received, and really not wanting to find out if anything would happen if they broke the rules.

 **(The Dursley's got into... How very wrong he was.)**

"And oh, how I wish you weren't." Both Harry's muttered under their breath. Only the canines in the room picked it up, although McGonagall did catch enough to know they said something.

 **(Mr. Dursley might have... and its eyes narrowed.)**

People looked between McGonagall and Dumbledore, wondering how she knew he would be there and why he was there at that time of night. It was obvious that he had at some point taken Harry to the Dursley's, but why didn't he do it earlier or wait till morning?

 **(Nothing like this man... boots was unwelcome.)**

Sirius snorted, "Oh, he knew. I just doubt he'd care." He wasn't too happy with the headmaster at the moment. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that Dumbledore hadn't even tried to get him a trial, or to even come speak with him about what really happened. He'd just let him be shipped off to Azkaban, and shipped Harry off to his relatives while he was at it. And it was pretty clear that his relatives did not like him at all.

As the Chief Warlock, he had the power and the responsibility to make sure everyone got a trial.

 **(He was busy rummaging... a silver cigarette lighter.)**

Ron grinned and pulled out his own 'silver cigarette lighter.' Dumbledore saw this and suddenly got concerned about his own future. The only reason he would give that thing up was if he was dead and felt that the thing would be better served with Harry.

 **(He flicked it open... he clicked the Put-Outer,)**

Ron gagged and Harry said, "You know, I kinda like 'Deluminator' better."

Some of the futures looked confused, Harry knew what that thing was? Then, like the observant people they all are, they finally noticed that Ron was holding the thing in his hand.

 **(until the only lights... looked distinctly ruffled.)**

The Dursley's, who had been thinking that these people were lunatics for thinking that the cat had been a person, were shocked.

The wizards took one look at their faces and it was enough to have them rolling on the ground laughing for a few minutes. Or twenty. But who was counting.

 **("How did you... parties on my way here.")**

Harry growled and muttered something that nobody quite caught, but they had a feeling that it was unflattering towards those that celebrated his parents death.

Of course, that's not what they were really celebrating, but that's what it felt like to Harry. That the wizarding community heard that he defeated Voldemort, and gave him all this fame, but they forgot about his parents and their sacrifice. To hear that they were celebrating like that, that they were celebrating a betrayal that ended in somebody being orphaned... he was not happy with the wizarding world.

 **(Professor McGonagall sniffed... He never had much sense.")**

Fred and George grinned. "No, but you have,"

"To admit, that he's,"

"Fun to be around." They finished together like always.

All the kids laughed and agreed. The future Dursley's were the only ones to disagree, they did not like that guy.

 **("You can't blame them,"... for a lemon drop?")**

Everyone groaned. What was it with that man and lemon drops?!

 **("A what?... sweet I'm rather fond of.")**

Everyone grumbled about that being an understatement. Even Sirius, and he's been in Azkaban for the past 10 years.

 **("No, thank you,"... of saying Voldemort's name.")**

Harry gave a loud "Hear, hear!" Before giving Ron and the rest of the Weasley's a pointed look. He had been trying to break them of that habit for years.

Ron sighed and reminded him, again, of the Taboo in place at the moment. Harry shrugged and said that there was no Taboo in this room, especially considering that they didn't even know where this room was.

Ron sighed but didn't bother correcting him. He would never understand his friend. It seemed like not even getting caught because of that Taboo was enough to deter him.

 **("I know you haven't,"... noble to use them.")**

The Trio looked at each other, before looking at Dumbledore.

Harry said, "Or it's because he learned his lesson the first time..."

Dumbledore looked up, startled and a little afraid. How much did he know about his past?

Everyone else was a little startled too, what was Harry talking about? Sirius asked. Harry just suggested that it might come up in these books.

To anyone looking, Dumbledore paled considerably, if that came out now all his plans would be ruined!

 **("It's lucky it's... she liked my earmuffs.")**

The kids in the room gagged. They did not need to hear that. Most of the adults in the room looked like they could have gone their whole lives not hearing that too.

 **(Professor McGonagall... are- are- that they're- dead.")**

 _Harry_ looked startled. "Wait, so they didn't die in a car crash, they were murdured?" All the wizards turned to gape at the two Harry's, both of which shrunk down into their seats trying to get away from their gaze.

All of them were too startled and angry to speak. A few of them suddenly remembered _Harry_ mentioning earlier that he thought his parents were drunk driving.

Finally, Sirius managed to choke out, "They told you that James and Lily died in a car crash." Both Harry's looked at him wearily, Harry wary of Sirius going all protective godfather on him again, and _Harry_ worried that he had said something wrong.

Harry nodded slowly and gestured for _Harry_ to come on over to their couch. He figured that maybe if the two of them were right there that Sirius would stay put. What he did not expect was for Sirius to grab them and pull them into a bone-crushing hug before going into the other room to talk.

What they didn't know was that while they were in that hug, Remus had signaled Sirius to take them out. He knew that Harry was of age and all and that he never really had any feelings for his relatives, but neither of them needed to hear this discussion. Moody decided that the others could handle this and decided to go with the boys.

While the Dursley's and Dumbledore got their talking to, Sirius sat down with the boys and started talking to them about their parents. He didn't know what Harry knew, so he mostly just talked for _Harry's_ benefit.

He told them stories about when they were in school, about how good James was at his job, and he even told about the rivalry between James and Snape. Moody pitched in once in a while with some small stories about James and Sirius' training days, and then later on when they finished training.

Sirius told _Harry_ everything, including the full-moon incident and how Lily used to hate James until he deflated. He didn't leave anything out. He even told them some stuff that Harry didn't know yet.

Sirius wanted nothing more than to rip those Dursley's apart right now, but figured that _Harry_ didn't need to see that (see, he can control himself), he was still young and war-innocent. Harry, on the other hand, wasn't.

It was at least two hours before Remus came to get them so they could keep reading. The only thing Sirius hadn't got around to mentioning to _Harry_ yet was the full story of what happened on the night his parents died, his involvement, the rat, all of it. He figured that that would just have to come out next time he had a chance to talk to his godson alone. His godson needed to know why he hadn't been around.

This time, both Harry's just stayed with Sirius and Remus went to join Ron and Hermione on their couch

 **(Dumbledore bowed his... that's why he's gone.")**

 _Harry_ looked dumbfounded. He looked at his older self who just sighed and ran a hand through his hair before nodding, not looking at anybody. He said it was more complicated than that, but that was the basic idea, yes.

If only it had been that simple, if only that had really been the end of it. But no, he had to deal with this Horcux hunt mess now because of that.

 **(Dumbledore nodded glumly... "We may never know.")**

Harry snarled. "Liar." He glared at Dumbledore when he opened his mouth to defend himself. Dumbledore realized that there was no defending himself to the boy-that-now-knew-everything.

McGonagall looked affronted. "You've known this WHOLE TIME? You LIED to EVERYBODY?!" Dumbledore looked around the room before saying that he had his reasons.

Snape and Harry snorted. Reasons, yeah, uh huh. Sure. More like he just wanted the chance to manipulate and scheme around the ministry.

The wizards did not look happy with him, but Arthur reminded that it would be in these books, if Harry didn't just come outright and say it before that point, they could yell at the old man all they wanted then. For now, let's just get this chapter finished and they can go to bed. Those who had been busy escaping Death Eaters before coming here agreed to that

 **(Professor McGonagall... be here, by the way?")**

The Trio chuckled, Hagrid never could keep a secret. When asked what was so funny, they told everyone so.

The teacher's groaned, they didn't want to know how much of those three's mischief happened because Hagrid couldn't keep secrets.

 **("Yes," said... he has left now.")**

Sirius growled. "You know full well that if you had just come to talk to me and straightened things out first that that would not have been necessary."

"The blood wards around the house-" Dumbledore started.

"Were so weak anyway from the lack of care that they wouldn't have mattered. The only thing keeping Death Eaters and the like out before now was probably the belief that I was happy and spoiled rotten in that house, making the wards strong enough. Besides, did it have to be my mothers blood? Wouldn't any blood relative work just as fine? Sirius is my cousin after all." Harry said. "What?" He asked at Hermione's questioning look. "I did some research on them after Dumbledore told me about them."

Moody nodded approvingly at the boys research, booming, "CONSTANT VIGILANCE!"

The Weasley twins looked horrified that he had willingly done research. Harry caught their looks and scoffed, "Oh, yeah, like the two of you never did research on something you thought was important to you."

They blushed thinking about all the research they did to make their beginning products, so many books and hours in the library.

Harry smirked, "That's what I thought."

 **("You don't mean-... Harry Potter come and live here!")**

Harry sighed before thanking McGonagall for trying. Then he nudged Sirius, who had been glaring at Dumbledore throughout this entire conversation with McGonagall in the book.

Sirius looked around at him, then sighed and laid an arm around both their shoulders, sending a clear message to Dumbledore. "My kid."

 **("It's the best place for him,")**

Harry and Sirius snorted. Yeah right. They both felt that Harry would have been better off living with Sirius. Why on earth couldn't Dumbledore have just tried to find out the truth first!

 **(said Dumbledore... I've written them a letter.")**

"Wait, wait, wait. They knew about all this? They knew how it happened?" _Harry_ asked. Harry just sighed and looked down. That was the same reaction he had when he found out that Dumbledore had written them a letter telling them everything, and that they had been supposed to tell him.

If possible, the adults looked even more murderous towards Dumbledore and the Dursley's.

 **("A letter?" repeated... world will know his name!")**

Harry looked up, "Ok, A) does anybody else find it ironic that we're reading books about me right now after her prediction, and B) Nobody tried to make a Harry Potter day did they?" He asked the last part hesitantly, like he almost didn't want to know the answer.

Snape smirked and was the one to answer. "First off, even I can appreciate the irony, and second, no. I believe somebody did try, but it never went through."

Harry sighed in relief while everybody else looked at Snape strangely. He just smirked at them before waving at Dumbledore to keep reading. He didn't have to pretend in here for the benefit of the Death Eaters children. He could be himself a bit more.

 **("Exactly," said Dumbledore,... hiding Harry underneath it.)**

All the pranksters except the two Harry's laughed at their beet red faces and muttering.

 **("Hagrid's bringing him."... as important as this?")**

The Trio looked slightly offended as they turned to McGonagall and proclaimed heatedly that they trust Hagrid with their lives.

McGonagall looked slightly taken aback and Dumbledore frowned slightly as he kept reading.

 **("I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore.)**

The Trio looked at McGonagall triumphantly. Then Hermione coughed and said, "Just not with a secret."

The teachers looked at them warily, wondering just what Hagrid told them over the years.

 **("I'm not saying his... on the road in front of them.)**

"Yay it's my bike! Wait, what happened to it?" He asked Harry.

Arthur answered, "It's in my shed back at the Burrow. Hagrid gave it me to fix after... well, I'm not entirely sure how it ended up being crashed." He looked at Harry as he said that, who turned to find Sirius staring at him questioningly and accusingly.

"It's not my fault! We were being chased by Death Eaters!"

"That is the second time you've mentioned being chased by Death Eaters." Sirius grumbled, but he let Harry off the hook about the bike. _Harry_ meanwhile was trying to figure something out.

"So, the flying bike wasn't a dream? That was real?" Harry smiled over, "Yup, it was very much real." Sirius just grinned. He missed that bike.

 **(If the motorcycle was huge... bundle of blankets.)**

"This makes him sound fierce and dangerous!" Fred laughed, along with everyone else. He had noticed that _Harry_ paled as the description went on, if they were laughing about that, then he couldn't be that bad, could he?

 **("Hagrid," said Dumbledore... I've got him, sir.")**

Sirius suddenly muttered something that made Remus look over in concern. He saw what nobody else saw, he saw how hard it was for Sirius to be here right now straight out of Azkaban hearing about Harry's awful relatives. He was holding up surprisingly well for his godsons sake.

 **("No problems, were there... like a bolt of lightning.)**

All the women 'Aww'd' as both Harry's hid their faces in the shirt Sirius changed into earlier while they talked as the Dursley's got yelled at.

Sirius just chuckled and mentioned sharing baby stories with the women later. Both Harry's sat up and glared, silently daring him to do it. All the Gryffindor's knew what that look meant. Even Remus and the Dudley's knew.

It meant the most epic prank ever if Sirius actually took the dare and shared those stories.

 **("Is that where-?"... "He'll have that scar forever.")**

Harry grumbled something unintelligibly, which just made _Harry_ confused. Did something happen for him not to like it anymore?

Harry caught his confused look and said he'd explain later.

 **("Couldn't you do something about it, Dumbledore?")**

Harry snorted and grumbled again while the rest of the Trio looked at him in sympathy. He'd asked, believe me, he'd asked numerous times for Dumbledore to get rid of it. He'd even asked Madam Pomfrey one time, even she said no on Dumbledore's orders.

 **("Even if I could... like a wounded dog.)**

The Trio smiled sadly. They loved Hagrid, and they hoped he was alright after that 'Support Harry Potter Party.'

Sirius just looked a little offended at the 'wounded dog' comment.

 **("Shhh!" hissed... off ter live with Muggles-")**

Sirius muttered that then Hagrid should have just given him to him when he asked.

 **("Yes, yes, it's all very sad,... to have gone out.)**

Many in the room were either crying silently, (the women) or just sitting there scowling (those who really didn't like the Dursley's or the fact that Harry lived with them).

Harry was just frowning at Dumbledore. Thinking...

Finally, Molly seemed to have realized something. "YOU LEFT HIM ON THE DOORSTEP IN NOVEMBER?!" Everyone, not just Remus, had to cover their ears, in Remus case Hermione took pity on him towards the beginning of Molly's screech and cast a Muffliato on him.

Dumbledore looked uncomfortable as he hurriedly explained that he had enchantments on the blankets and such so he wouldn't get cold or roll off. Also, so that nobody would see him and try to take him.

Now everybody really wondered why he had waited 'till midnight to do this and not done it when the Dursley's were still awake. Even the Dursley's and Mrs. Figg wondered, it would have definitely been quieter around the neighborhood that morning. Moody started scribbling on his parchment again, Dumbledore had a very bad feeling that unless he could give Moody a VERY good reason not to, he was probably going to be brought up on various charges when they got out of there.

Molly sat back and glared at the headmaster, still not happy with him.

 **("Well," said... join the celebrations.")**

Harry growled softly at the thought of those celebrations. Sirius squeezed his shoulder.

McGonagall looked up and assured Harry that she had not joined in.

 **("Yeah," said Hagrid...- Professor Dumbledore, sir.")**

Sirius snorted softly. He never did get his bike back, instead he got thrown into Azkaban without a chance of explaining the truth.

 **(Wiping his streaming... blew her nose in reply.)**

 _Harry_ frowned confused. "Isn't this Halloween?" At everybody's confused nods, he continued. "Then why would you be asking like that as if you weren't going back to the school? I thought you both worked there?"

McGonagall and Dumbledore were a little shocked. They didn't remember anybody telling him they both worked at Hogwarts, he wouldn't know that unless... they looked at Sirius, but he looked just as confused. He hadn't told him any of that either. Sure, in the book they had both been referred to as professor, but all the kid knew they worked at different schools. Huh.

Harry just grinned, he loved it when people underestimated him. Only Dudley knew just how smart he was, and that was only because for years Dudley made him do his homework for him.

Oh, well...

 **(Dumbledore turned... step of number four.)**

Molly and Sirius growled at the reminder.

 **("Good luck, Harry,")**

Harry sarcastically thanked him, he was going to need it.

 **(he murmured. He... pinched by his cousin Dudley...)**

Dudley groaned at another reminder of how he used to act. Harry smirked at him, maybe now Dudley would see... Sure they had made up and Dudley had cleaned up his act after the Dementor incident, but still

 **(He didn't know... "To Harry Potter- the boy who lived!")**

Harry groaned at the name. He HATES being called the Boy-Who-Lived! He HATES being famous for what his mother did! Argh!

* * *

ok, I know there is no new chapter, I did however edit the end of the first one to include the Dursley blow up.


	3. The Vanishing Glass

_**(He didn't know... "To Harry Potter- the boy who lived!")**_

 _Harry groaned at the name. He HATES being called the Boy-Who-Lived! He HATES being famous for what his mother did! Argh!_

With the end of that chapter, Dumbledore passed the book to McGonagall.

 **"Chapter two, The Vanishing Glass."**

Harry sat up, this was Dudley's birthday. Which meant...

He waved his wand, causing everybody else's wands to fly to his hand, which he put in Hermione's bag. The only wand that was not removed was Moody's. Because, A) the old Auror would kill him if he tried to take his wand, and B) he was pretty sure his holster had so many anti-summoning charms on it as to fill a house.

Moody just nodded in approval when he noticed his wand was untouched. Apparently him and the boy got to know each other a bit. Either that or the boy heard his reputation.

When everyone turned to him to shout about why he took their wands, he just shrugged and gestured towards the Dursley's, silently letting people know that they were not going to like this chapter.

To be honest, Harry didn't really care what happened to his relatives, he just didn't want to see somebody he cared about doing something that would get them in a lot of trouble later. They had enough problems going on right now.

 **(Nearly ten years... report about the owls.)**

All the pranksters in the room simultaneously shouted out about how boring that sounded, except for the Harry's. They agreed wholeheartedly, they just knew better than to say it with two Petunia's in the room. If Harry hadn't already taken everybodies wands they would've had no problems with it, but...

 **(Only the photographs... different-colored bonnets-)**

Snickers rang out from the wizards, even the adults who usually tried to keep the youngers in line.

 **(but Dudley Dursley... in the house, too.)**

A lot of the wizards looked a little confused at that. They knew that Petunia didn't like the boy all that much, but he was still her nephew.

The four Weasley's who had gone to get Harry for the World Cup frowned, now that it was mentioned, they couldn't remember seeing any pictures of Harry in the living room anywhere when they got there. Of course, the place was covered in dust at the time so they didn't think much of it but now...

 **(Yet Harry Potter...noise of the day.)**

Both Harry's started grumbling about something and rubbing their ears, both with dark looks on their faces.

Sadly, not even Remus could tell what they were saying, or if it was even English.

Whatever it was, everyone in the room guessed it was something along the lines of "sensitive ears", considering that said ears were being rubbed like they hurt.

Snape started wondering if maybe Petunia wasn't the reason why the boy had such a hard time listening to instructions. Maybe his hearing was poor from having a wake up call like that for 11 years? He made a mental note to have Pomphrey check that out later. Moody also made a note on one of his pieces of parchment to get the boys hearing checked.

 **("Up! Get up! Now!..."Up!" she screeched.)**

The Harry's started grumbling again, Snape was starting to feel *shudders* _pity_ for the boy.

He had lived near and been friends with Lily long enough to know how unpleasant Petunia could be, and just how loud she could screech.

 **(Harry heard her... put on the stove.)**

Fred and George looked at each other. From what they remember of that house's layout, the only rooms close enough to the kitchen for all that to have been audible would be either the cupboard or the living room.

They glanced towards the two Harry's, who seemed to be having a silent discussion, one they couldn't read.

Fred's eyes narrowed, the two of them had always prided themselves on being able to read Harry like a book, but at the moment, they had no idea what was going on between the two of them. Harry's guard was up in a way the twins had never seen before.

The twins had a bad feeling that they now knew exactly why Harry had taken their wands away from them, glancing towards their mother they knew this was not going to be pretty.

There feelings were confirmed when Harry glanced at them and nodded slightly.

 **(He rolled onto... same dream before.)**

Sirius smiled, "Wasn't a dream kiddo."

Harry just grinned at him.

 **(His aunt was... she demanded.)**

"Geez, you haven't been gone for, what, two minutes? Give the guy time to wake up, a morning person Harry is not!" Hermione exclaimed.

The Weasley clan nodded in agreement, getting Ron and Harry up in the mornings was a nightmare, one that the twins took as a challenge happily accepted.

They could only guess how Hermione had been dealing with them in the mornings since they went on the run.

Petunia glared at Hermione, "If I say he has to get up to do chores, the boy had very well better get up! And no complaints about it either! You should consider yourself lucky we kept you boy!" The last part was directed at Harry, who had been mouthing along with her little rant, having memorized it years ago from the amount of times he heard the same thing.

The wizards in the room weren't happy with her last statement. Especially with the fact that it seems Harry heard her say it a lot.

Inwardly, the two Harry's snorted. Chores huh? Is that what they call doing ALL the work while everybody else in the house sat around and did nothing at all? Even Dudley was questioning the definition of the word 'chores.'

 _Dudley_ was just enjoying the show of Harry being told off.

 **("Nearly," said Harry.)**

The Weasley's all snorted, even Molly. That was about the standard morning Harry answer when asked if he was almost awake enough yet to come down stairs without breaking his neck.

Harry rubbed his neck sheepishly.

 **("Well, get a... on Duddy's birthday.")**

"What?" Yelped _Harry_. "But that's in two days!" He sounded a little excited, but a little apprehensive too, after all, he had no reason to believe this day would turn out any different than Dudley's birthdays in the past.

The others had a completely different reaction.

"You're making an eleven year old cook?!" Molly screeched, making the Harry's both grab their ears looking annoyed at her. While they were used to screeching, that didn't mean they liked it. Remus and Sirius grabbed their ears and looked annoyed too, but that was just because of their canine halves.

Harry was so caught up protecting his ears from anymore damage that he almost missed Molly turning to him demanding to know when this started. Petunia was a miffed that this woman didn't even have the common decency to let her answer the question before blowing her off like that.

Before he answered, the two Harry's had another of their silent conversations, Fred and George were getting really annoyed with those.

Finally _Harry_ spoke up, "Since we were... five? Or maybe six? We don't really remember, why what does it matter?"

Molly was so angry that she started to go for her wand, only to remember that Harry took all the wands. She started to demand hers back before the twins gently and cautiously told her that her reacting like this is exactly why Harry took them.

Surprisingly, this calmed her down enough for her to think again. She turned sharply to the two Harry's and informed them that they would be discussing this later in private, only for Sirius to clear his throat and give her a look, which surprisingly enough made her relent that Sirius could be there, but they were still discussing this! Sirius had no intentions of her being in that conversation though, while he was grateful of her taking care of Harry over the years, she was not Harry's mother or godparent.

A couple of teachers noticed Sirius' look and figured they better run distraction later so Sirius and the Harry's could have their conversation in private. They happened to agree that Harry was Sirius' responsibility, not Molly's.

Petunia had been trying to get her word in to remind these freaks that if the boy was going to live under her roof, he was going to work for it, that's the way the world is, but McGonagall started reading again before she could.

 **(Harry groaned.)**

This time, Fred and George could read the conversation between the Harry's.

 _'You have a death wish or something? You don't make noise! She'll send you out to the garden for hours!'_

 _'I know, I know... I just couldn't stop that one.'_

Needless to say, the twins were not happy about what they 'overheard.'

 **("What did you say?" his aunt snapped through the door.)**

 _Harry_ gave Harry the look. The one that says, 'See? Told ya.'

The others were exasperated, he hadn't said anything!

 **("Nothing, nothing... he have forgotten?)**

"Easily." Both Harry's said. This earned them a glare from the Dudley's, although _Dudley_ seemed a little harsher than his older self.

All four adult Dursley's were starting to get concerned. Why was Dudley all of a sudden being nice to the boy?

 **(Harry got slowly... put them on. )**

Ron shuddered, Harry smirked until he thought about what the book was going to say next. Then he just double checked to make sure he still had the other's wands.

This action did not go unnoticed by Sirius, Remus, or Moody.

 **(Harry was used to spiders, because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them, and that was where he slept.)**

The room was dead quiet. Taking advantage of the momentary lull before the storm, Harry cast a quick protection and repelling charm over his relatives, just because he took away the wands of wand dependent wizards didn't mean they couldn't still do some damage if they wanted to. Especially the twins. He had no illusions that if Moody wanted to break his charms and do what he wanted, he would.

Then he noticed the looks on some of the adults faces and leaned over so he could cover _Harry's_ ears. 'This is going to be loud,' he thought.

And he was right.

If there had been anyone outside of this mystery room they were in, they would have thought a small explosion had gone off.

Which, of course, is exactly what happened. A small explosion by the name of Molly Weasley, accompanied by McGonagall, Ginny, and Madam Pomfrey. The rest of the adults were a little too shell-shocked still, staring at Harry and wondering just how much they didn't know.

With four angry witches all shouting at the same time in a very small space, it's not surprising that no individual words could be made out, until Madam Pomfrey shocked everybody by cursing at the Dursleys.

Before anybody could scold her for using such language around children, (thinking about _Harry_ and _Dudley_ , the Trio have seen too much now to ever be considered children again and Ginny was... Ginny) both of the eleven year olds piped in that they've heard worse, with their older counterparts nodding in agreement.

That just caused a whole 'nother explosion, towards the Dursley's, towards Dumbledore, towards Harry for taking their wands, eventually, Sirius and Remus took the Harry's to another room to talk where it was quiet, they didn't talk about anything big, just shared more stories of the Marauders at Hogwarts while they waited for the witches to cool down.

Taking Harry out of there also lessened the chance of one of the witches jumping him in favor of getting her wand back.

After about 20 minutes of this, the Harry's decided to go ahead and make lunch while the witches got their anger out, so they wished for a small kitchen and it appeared.

"Think we should let Moody know, so he can keep his eye out? Don't want him to starve after all." Harry said absently, glancing towards the other room. Remus shook his head, knowing Moody he already had his eye on them. After he said that, Moody walked into the room with them, apparently deciding that the Dursley's and Dumbledore were in good hands and that he would rather be where the food was being made, make sure it wasn't being tampered with.

Sirius narrowed his eyes at the thought of his Harry knowing how to cook so well, but decided not to say anything. He knew cooking was a good skill to have, he just didn't like WHY Harry could cook so well. So, the Harry's cooked, Remus and Sirius shared stories while they did, and in the other room four unfortunate Dursley's and Dumbledore were having the tongue lashing of their lives.

It didn't take long for Harry to brave going back out to the living room to signal everyone else to follow him, when they did they were not expecting a small feast to be laid out, with _Harry_ still pulling stuff off the stove. Harry just grinned at their faces and told them to dig in. At Fred's questioning the foods safety and edibility, Harry just asked with a smirk how Dudley could have gotten so fat if Harry's food wasn't edible. Not having an answer to that, everyone dug in.

What Harry didn't say was that him serving anything that didn't taste good would get him a few months in the cupboard eating breadcrumbs, if he was lucky. So, he kind of had to be a good cook. Dudley noticed he didn't say anything else and stopped _Dudley_ from saying anything too.

The Harry's were just happy to be cooking for somebody that wasn't a Dursley. In the past, the only times Petunia didn't make him cook was when they were having special guests that she wanted to impress. Shame really though, considering that between Harry and Petunia, Harry is clearly the better cook. Although, there was the little issue of Petunia not letting him touch anything in the kitchen since he started Hogwarts...

Noticing that it's gone silent in the other room, _Harry_ looked out to see that those who had been part of the explosion were now looking around confused as to where everyone else had gone. Laughing, _Harry_ invited them into the now dining room and told them they decided to get lunch going while they had it out. Molly was confused, how could they have lunch when she didn't make anything? She wasn't expecting to see everyone gathered around a large table eating a feast fit for Hogwarts, nor did she expect the others to inform her that the Harry's made it when she asked. Although now that she thought about it... Harry always was asking if he could help in the kitchen.

She turned to stare at them, while they both scratched the backs of their heads nervously as they sat down to eat. When Dumbledore and the Dursley's, minus the Dudley's who came in with the rest of the group, the room created a smaller table for them, away from everyone else, which was good since everyone was still mad at the five of them.

When they returned, Moody went straight to his parchment and started scribbling again, muttering under his breath. Snape got the last word in before they kept reading, "Grace would be ashamed of you." He sneered at Petunia. She paled.

 **(When he was... fat and hated exercise-)**

Snickers rang through the room, mostly from those who were there when Fred questioned the safety of Harry's cooking.

 _Dudle_ y puffed himself up indignantly, but Dudley stopped him before he could say anything.

 **(unless of course... bag was Harry,)**

Both Dudley's were suddenly faced with some scary looking wizards who had been laughing moments before. Before now they had ignored the boy because he hadn't done anything, but now that they knew he beat Harry up...

Harry sighed and softly asked everybody to leave Dud alone, he was just doing what he knew, what he was taught.

 **(but he couldn't... was very fast.)**

Which made Ron and Hermione start laughing about how right that was, asking Harry if he remembered that run-in a few weeks ago with those Snatchers. Harry smirked and asked how he could forget.

For some reason, that comment just made it funnier for the other two. When the others questioned what they were talking about, they hadn't heard anything about the Trio being spotted, Harry said in a quiet voice that the three of them had gotten pretty good at memory charms.

Hermione added on that they weren't proud of it, but the few times they were spotted, they'd had to do something or Death Eaters would have been swarming the countryside faster then they could say 'Moldyshorts'.

Ron explained that usually Harry could get away fast enough that none of them realized who the third person to get away was, they were normally happy enough with their catch of two that they'd promise to hunt down that one later. Then Harry would sneak back around and knock them out, free Ron and Hermione, get what supplies they could, wake them up, get information, then wipe their memories of ever seeing the Trio. Harry just nodded, saying that they got most of their news from the radio when Ron finally figured out the new password, or from the snatchers.

Hermione said that if they were really desperate for information they would get spotted and chased on purpose. Moody raised an eyebrow, those were some good hit and run tactics, these three would make good Aurors.

The adults just stared at them, finally Molly asked if that, gesturing to Hermione's arm, happened because of one of these schemes.

The Trio grimaced and Ron stated that that one happened because SOMEBODY, throwing a look Harry's way, forgot about the Taboo and they weren't prepared to fight.

Everybody who knew anything about Harry grimaced, yeah, he would forget about the Taboo, considering several of the Weasley's tried for years to get him to stop saying that name and he didn't, even at some point messing with it and changing it to 'Moldyshorts.'

 **(Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard,)**

All the adults growled at that little reminder.

They were still wishing Harry hadn't taken their wands from them. They really wanted to use them on those Dursleys for that.

 **(but Harry had... bigger than he was.)**

Hermione and Ron sat up like one of life's biggest riddles had suddenly been answered for them. They had been asking for years why Harry's clothes were always a little big on him, and each time he would just shrug and go and change the subject. They should have known that his aunt and uncle had something to do with it.

Moody barked out something about the Potter fortune, looking at Harry's clothes and asking why he never went and got new ones. Harry was confused, what Potter fortune? Moody growled and went back to scribbling on his parchment.

 **(Harry had a thin... like a bolt of lightning.)**

The room got quiet. All the wizards who knew anything about Harry knew that he hated his scar, especially when people stared at it.

"This was before I knew where it came from, what it means." Harry said softly, and just motioned to keep reading.

 **(He had had it as... when your parents died,")**

Harry had the feeling that everybody was going to be growling a lot until he actually got to Hogwarts in these books.

 **(she had said... with the Dursleys.)**

All the teachers sat up and stared as if they'd been electrified. "So that's why you never come to any of us when something is going on. You've been conditioned not to ask questions, ever." McGonagall whispered.

Even Snape looked like he now understood, even if he was a little a annoyed now. While he may not like Harry, and he may hate teaching, he is still a teacher, and as a teacher, it frustrated him to no end when Harry never came to any of them for any help of any kind. To finally know why that was...

Harry just shifted in his seat uncomfortably.

 **(Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon.)**

It was confirmed, Mrs. Weasley and the other witches in the room were going to be growling at the Dursley's a lot during this reading.

 **("Comb your hair!"... way- all over the place.)**

"I think that might be a Potter thing actually..." Remus mused. "James was the same way... so was your grandfather now that I think about it..."

 _Harry_ sat up. "Grandfather? If I have Grandparents then why didn't I go to live with them?"

Sirius grimaced, "They were killed shortly before James and Lily, in fact, as cruel as it sounds, that's how we managed to convince James and Lily to go into hiding in the first place... well, we used the obvious excuse of keeping their only son safe too, of course." He smiled sadly down at his two godsons. Harry just nodded sadly, he already knew about his grandparents, he had looked them up not long after arriving at Hogwarts his first year, although he never told anybody about that.

Moody grunted, "Good people, went down fighting."

 _Harry_ nodded slowly, before asking about his grandparents on his mothers side. This time it was Petunia that answered, although she spoke stiffly and with the usual sour-lemon expression she got when he dared to ask a question. "Mum and Dad got sick and died shortly before Dudders was born. In fact, that is the last time I ever saw my sister." To say everybody was shocked that she said anything and that it with a somewhat civil tone is an... understatement.

Dumbledore sighed sadly, "Even if Lily's parents had still been alive, you would have still been sent to live with you aunt and uncle, your grandparents were just getting too old to look after someone in your situation like that, not to mention having a one year just thrust on them with no warning like that. It was thought that you would have been raised happy alongside your cousin."

Harry just glared at Dumbledore, not needing to speak, his look saying it all. The other witches were too angry to speak as well, McGonagall took the silence as her cue to keep reading.

 **(Harry was frying eggs... looked like a pig in a wig.)**

The Weasley's in particular found this statement hilarious. Even the Professor's were having to fight from grinning like idiots, if the upwards twitching their mouths were making was any indication. Only Molly pursed her lips in disapproval, although she didn't say anything because even she had to admit that the boys behavior somewhat resembled that of a pig at times. Her not saying anything did not go unnoticed by her family. They knew what that look meant after all, and they all knew the tirade that usually accompanied it. They figured they knew the kind of struggle going on in her head at the moment.

 **(Harry put the plates... less than last year.")**

As one, all the wizards jaws dropped. Well, all except the two Harry's and Mrs. Figg, they were used to how spoiled Dudley was. Ron stated in what was almost a faint whisper that not even Draco Malfoy was that spoiled, and his parents always seemed to buy him almost anything. Harry agreed to that, but personally thought that Malfoys parents were at least parents in the sense that they disciplined their kid, and obviously loved him. Just what they had seen of Draco's interactions around his parents at the Manor was proof of that.

Meanwhile, Molly and Arthur were hoping that Dudley's parents weren't about to turn around and encourage this type of ungrateful behavior.

 **("Darling, you haven't... Mommy and Daddy.")**

The Weasley parents could feel their hopes crashing around them, something their children took notice to. The seven redheads silently started the countdown to when their parents exploded over the poor parenting of these two Muggles, even Percy despite the fact that he had been silent up to now, and the rest of his family was still a little cold towards him at the moment.

Beyond that, it was amazing that the group of redheads noticed anything at all about their parents behavior while rolling on the ground laughing about how Dudley was being talked to like he was five years old or something.

The Dudley's themselves were going beat red at the fact that these people were hearing him being talked to like that. He had a reputation blast it! Although, the older Dudley wasn't quite as concerned with that as he was the fact that this was just plain embarrassing.

 **("All right, thirty-seven then,... turned the table over.)**

Again, neither Harry was surprised by this development while the other wizards jaws dropped, although several of them did catch them having a silent conversation.

Fred and George figured that either the two boys were slipping or they were just getting better at reading them. The conversation went something like this; _'They gave you breakfast? And they let you just have some bacon?' 'Yeah, they didn't want Mrs. Figg thinking I was hungry, I was supposed to spend the day with her.' 'Ahhhh, that makes more sense. I thought they were being nice for once.'_

The twins decided that they needed to talk with Sirius later, and maybe or maybe not bring their mother into it... no. They better leave their mother out, if not for the sake of their eardrums. Besides, Harry wasn't her responsibility, he was Sirius's.

For now, they settled for asking how often the table got turned over. The two Harry's were startled out of their conversation only to start debating with each other on the number of times per week the table did in fact get turned over from one of Dudley's morning tantrum's. So far, the debate seemed to be over whether or not they should count the number of times Harry himself had managed to catch it before it fell over completely on top of him.

The twins were kind of sorry they asked. Especially when they saw that their mother looked like she was about to have a mental breakdown, possibly over the non-existent parenting of Harry's aunt and uncle.

Meanwhile, Luna and Neville were thanking Harry for not being a spoiled brat. Instead, he was a true friend to them.

 **(Aunt Petunia obviously... _Two_ more presents. Is that all right?")**

Arthur got up and quietly told them to keep reading and to tell them what happened later, then he grabbed his wife by the shoulders and gently led her out. The whole way she was sputtering indignantly and incoherently. Everyone just assumed that he was going to try and calm her down before she regained her voice and lit into the Dursley's again, this time on their poor parenting skills and how undeserving they were of raising a child.

Their kids were actually a little disappointed, they'd been hoping to see their mother explode on somebody other than them for a change. Besides that, they all really didn't like the Dursley's, they had been absolutely horrible to Harry, and nobody was horrible to their 'brother' and got away with it. Nobody.

Severus Snape was amazed and a little ashamed, he had spent so long accusing Harry of being a spoiled little brat just like his father, when it was clear that Harry was not the spoiled one in that house. Not even his godson was this bad, and he was very spoiled as a child.

 **(Dudley thought for... sweetums," said Aunt Petunia.)**

All the teachers suddenly looked like they might pass out. An eleven year old boy that couldn't add 37+2? Faintly, McGonagall asked the boy how he got anywhere in school, to which the Harry's answered that it was him who got Dudley anywhere in school.

"So, you used to tutor him then?" Sprout asked hesitantly and a little hopefully, like she knew the answer but was really hoping she was wrong.

 _Harry_ shook his head, "Nope, I do it all for him while he runs around and terrorizes the neighborhood kids. That's part of the reason why my grades weren't as good as they could have been, I was doing double the work with barely any time to do my own, even if I wasn't doing his too. Of course that's not the only reason..." The last bit was the so quiet that Remus and Sirius were once again the only ones to catch it.

In unison, all the current teachers minus Hagrid turned to glance at each other, even Snape despite current circumstances back at Hogwarts. It was decided that they were going to get some good schooling in this boys head while they were there. They may not know the Muggle curriculum, but they also had Hermione and Remus there. Between the six of them, they could figure it out. Besides, basic maths, which was obviously a point the boy was lacking in, was drilled into all wizards heads by their parents and some wizard parents, particularly if it was a Muggle-Magical pair, sent their magic children to Muggle school before sending them to Hogwarts anyway.

When this decision was announced, both Petunia's started to get up and shriek indignantly that her baby didn't need freaks teaching him anything, but Vernon grabbed both of them and gently pulled them back to their spots, him having noticed the looks on the wizards faces. He seemed to have finally realized that they could rant and rave all they wanted, it wasn't going to change a thing about their situation and it was only going to make the freaks angrier, and who knew how long Harry would still be willing to protect them.

Luna suddenly spoke up, "You kept your grades at Hogwarts so low on purpose, didn't you?"

Harry's head snapped towards her, deer in the headlights expression on his face. All the teachers snapped to look at him, when he didn't say anything and instead sank even further into the couch, they all sighed and sank back, it looked like they were going to give a few review lessons to see where Harry really was too. Just how much he held back and just how much he was really capable of, which would only help if this didn't work and the Trio had to go back on their search.

It would help _Harry_ too if he were to see just what he could be capable of, and if he sat in, he would get a head start on Hogwarts, the same head start that all the pureblood raised children, minus the Weasley's had to an extent.

 **("Oh." Dudley sat... He ruffled Dudley's hair.)**

All the Weasley boys and Ginny were really wishing their mother was here, but she was still out of the room with Arthur. What nobody knew though, was that Remus and Sirius could hear the rant coming from the room Arthur took her to. It was very amusing hearing the woman ranting about bad parenting and spoiled ungrateful children, the effect was slightly ruined since Remus knew that the Weasley parents would have given anything to have been able to give their children that kind of life growing up.

"If only the rest of you could hear her right now..." Remus said, shaking his head, Sirius nodded beside him. The Weasley clan all pouted.

As it was, the looks of disgust the Dursley's were getting from the other adults in the room was priceless. Even Neville and Luna were disgusted by this behavior, and seeing Luna with a disgusted look on her face was new for everyone.

 **(At that moment the... angry and worried.)**

Hermione whistled before fixing both Dudley's with a glare. "Those are very expensive items, and there are a lot of them, and yet you are still asking for more? How greedy and ungrateful can you be?" Then she turned to his parents, but didn't say anything, her look said it all. They were completely to blame for behavior like that, encouraging it like they did.

Dudley just sighed and shook his head in disgust, "I know I was bad, but man. I don't think any of those stayed intact longer than a week, except the bike..."

Harry shook his head, "No, you used the bike to run Mrs. Figg over a month later, then you broke it, remember? I think you tried to jump something, and the frame couldn't handle your weight or something. But yeah, you were pretty bad back then... I guess that attack really did change you, huh?"

Dudley just shrugged, still processing how he used to act. He grimaced and turned to Mrs. Figg, apologizing about running her over. She just stared at him just like everybody else before saying that it was all right, it hadn't happened yet, and as long as he was really sorry.

All four Dursley adults were actually starting to consider a psychiatrist, as much as they hated thinking anything could possibly be wrong with their boy, to see what was wrong with him. Why was he so disgusted by perfectly normal behavior? And why was he being nice to the freak?

 **("Bad news, Vernon,"... Harry's direction.)**

A few people winced in sympathy for Mrs. Figg, since she was a Squib it wasn't like she could go to St. Mungo's and get her leg fixed, she had to tough it out the Muggle way, then they noticed that Mrs. Figg was giving _Petunia_ a dirty look, telling her that if they dared send the boy to Marge for the day...

Moody perked up at the threat and scribbled on his parchment again.

It was around this time that Molly and Arthur finally came back and got caught up on what happened.

 **(Dudley's mouth fell... cats she'd ever owned.)**

Throughout the whole description of staying with Mrs. Figg, both Harry's started to sink down into their seats, finally both mumbling a sheepish "Sorry Mrs. Figg." at the end of it. She just smiled sadly and waved them off, stating that if she had actually made it fun for him then his aunt wouldn't have allowed him to come anymore. Which of course earned the Dursley's another glare from the wizards.

The Dursley's were getting pretty good at ignoring them.

Although Molly was a little miffed at how Harry called Mrs. Figg a 'mad old lady,' she figured that no boy would like going somewhere like that while his cousin was off celebrating his birthday like that, besides, he apologized. What she was really mad about was the fact that his relatives passed him off on a neighbor to be miserable while they went out and further spoiled their son rotten. She remembered what Arthur told her and kept quiet about it though, for now.

Sirius raised an eyebrow and turned to his godsons.

 **("Now what?" said Aunt... Mr. Paws, and Tufty again.)**

Sirius sighed, he supposed the kid had a point there, and at least he knew to feel sorry...

 **("We could phone Marge," Uncle Vernon suggested.)**

 _Harry_ jumped up, "NO! I'm not going to spend the whole day with Aunt Marge!"

Moody made a couple of marks on his parchment where he had last written something. Both the boy and Mrs. Figg clearly wanted nothing to do with this 'Aunt Marge'.

"Don't worry," Harry said with the stupid grin the Gryffindors hated, "You don't." _Harry_ sighed in relief before sitting down again, either not noticing or not caring about the glare both Vernon's were sending his way. Although most of the older Vernon's glare seemed to be directed at the older Harry, whether it was for the reminder of what happened that day at the zoo, or for what Harry did to Marge even he couldn't have told you.

 **("Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates the boy.")**

Both Harry's grumbled about the feeling being mutual. The glare intensified, although Vernon was smart enough not to say anything (see, and people say he doesn't have a brain...), at least not while his freak nephew was the only one in the room holding a wand.

 **(The Dursleys often... understand them, like a slug.)**

Harry was getting really tired of hearing everybody growl all the time like that. He was starting to consider putting a Silencio on them when stuff like this comes up... Nah, wouldn't work. Once he gave them their wands back they would just undo it.

 **("What about what's... on Dudley's computer).)**

All four Dursley's turned to him angrily, but their incoming tirade about him being ungrateful and using their things behind their backs stopped when he casually pulled his wand out and started making a plate in front of him levitate, seemingly out of boredom, but everyone could see his eyes casually flick towards his aunt and uncle. Seems his patience with them was reaching its limit.

Moody smirked in approval.

 **(Aunt Petunia looked... they weren't listening.)**

"They never do." Both Harry's muttered under his breath.

 **("I suppose we... sitting in it alone...")**

"He's not a dog!" Hermione yelled indignantly. Harry just smiled over at her, before turning to grin at Sirius, who was frowning slightly at the thought of his godson being treated like a dog. Shoot, worse than a dog in his opinion, call him biased towards dogs, this coming from the dog animagus, but he considered just leaving them like that to not necessarily be cruel, but... irresponsible. Harry nudged him, shaking him out of his thoughts.

He turned to him, only to see the rest of the room staring at him, looking amused by something. Harry snickered and conjured up a mirror, just holding it for Sirius to see himself. Why had he started transforming into a dog without him even realizing it? Oh yeah, he was debating dogs and cars... He turned to look at everyone else again, then back to the mirror. "Ummmm."

He turned pleadingly to McGonagall after making the dog ears and nose that started to appear go away. What only Ron and Hermione noticed, and only because they had specifically looked for it, was Harry putting his wand away and the mischievous smirk on his face... Harry looked at them and winked.

 **(Dudley began to cry... him anything he wanted.)**

Dudley went beet red again, he hadn't remembered that. His jaw dropped disbelievingly at yet another reminder of how much of a spoiled brat he had been. He turned to his younger self again, "We are SOOOOO having that talk tonight before bed. Don't think you can get out of it." He said threateningly.

The wizards just watched approvingly, seems Dudley really changed over the years. McGonagall kept reading before _Dudley_ could protest.

The women in the room looked at both Petunia and were disgusted, but not surprised at this point, to discover that she didn't seem the least bit upset to find out that her son had played her like that. What would it take to get this woman to realize this behavior was unacceptable?

 **("Dinky Duddydums,)**

All the Weasley's, even Percy was laughing even if he stayed in his seat, were rolling on the floor laughing at this nickname, while the Dudley's just sat their and fumed over the fact that every embarrassing nickname his mother ever gave him was coming out in front of all these wizards. Especially the twins. Dudley hadn't forgotten that thing with his tongue, they had to be responsible somehow.

Only Molly wasn't laughing, although she, like the rest of the wizard adults, was having to fight the smile off her face at the sight of Dudley's embarrassment.

 **(don't cry, Mummy... to cry at once.)**

"Of course he did, couldn't let somebody like that see you weak, even if you are just pretending." Fred said wisely.

"Although," George added, "If Piers was truly your friend then you wouldn't care if he saw you like that, pretending or not."

"Besides that, anybody resembling a rat is untrustworthy. At least in my experience." Harry said lightly, having felt Sirius stiffen at the mention of Piers resembling a rat. This was his subtle way of getting McGonagall's attention so she would keep reading, and Sirius could get his mind off rats, the new bane of his existence, quite literally.

Thankfully she got the message.

 **(Half an hour later... first time in his life.)**

Hmmm, maybe he could Silencio them for now, just until he gave their wands back, nah. Then they wouldn't be able to talk and discuss, and most of their discussions were interesting at least, so...

 **(His aunt and... now until Christmas.")**

"They didn't, did they?" Hermione asked hesitantly. Harry just grinned, although he wasn't sure how he should feel about her just automatically assuming some funny business had happened. Happy that she knew him so well or offended that that was the first thing she thought of, hmmm.

Instead, "Nah, I showed up at Hogwarts, didn't I?"

She just raised an eyebrow. That in no way relieved anybody's fears of how long he ended up in that cupboard for whatever happened at the zoo. Hermione and Ron dimly remembered Harry telling them about setting a snake on his cousin at the zoo once...

 **("I'm not going to do anything," said Harry, "honestly...")**

Everybody turned to stare at the two trouble-making boys called Harry Potter. They fidgeted a bit before finally demanding in unison, "WHAT?"

Everyone just shook their heads and went back to the book.

 **(But Uncle Vernon... make them happen.)**

Harry sheepishly scratched the back of his neck. Well, he honestly thought he was completely innocent of all that weird stuff happening, and who could blame him, he'd grown up being told almost everyday that there was no such thing as magic.

 **(Once, Aunt Petunia,... had grown back so quickly.)**

Remus turned to Harry to ask him something, but Harry cut him off with a small grin, "I already talked to Tonks about it, and she said there was a possibility, she offered to test it out with me once this whole war was over and I came out of hiding."

Remus just nodded thoughtfully, a little surprised that Harry had predicted his question so well. Sirius was too. Of course, that was when Remus remembered something and had a sudden idea. He still had yet to pick somebody to be his kids godfather...

 **(Another time, Aunt... caught him in mid-jump.)**

All the adults frowned in thought. Now, there was a piece of accidental magic you didn't hear about everyday. Snape just snorted at the irony. The brat was more like his mother than Snape had ever let himself realize, and he was really starting to hate these books for his ruining his perfect image of the spoiled Potter brat.

Out loud, he informed the room at large that Lily had started consciously using her magic to fly when she jumped off the swings. Harry just nodded, he remembered seeing in Snape's memories that he had been friends with his mother at school.

Petunia scowled at mention of Lily's magic.

 **(But today, nothing was going to go wrong.)**

All the Weasley kids, Hermione, Neville, and even Luna groaned. All of them asking Harry why he would even think something like that.

Harry just sighed, yeah, he knows that was stupid, he just jinxed himself like nothing else.

 **(It was even... it was motorcycles.)**

"Hey, what's wrong with motorcycles? I happen to like them." Sirius said, slightly offended that this Muggle who hated anything and everything not Muggle would hate something that, in Sirius opinion, was the height of Muggle technology. Besides, Sirius was currently trying to ignore the fact that Harry had been listed as one of the subjects Vernon liked to complain about more than once. He just might explode if he dwelled on it. Even as he tried to ignore that fact, he was pulling the boys towards himself protectively. Both boys tensed a little before Harry relaxed a little quicker than _Harry_ did.

Vernon just glared at him. This criminal, he didn't care what they said if he was locked up he was a criminal since there was obviously a reason, not even these freaks would lock up an innocent man, was one of those maniacs who roared along on the dumb things, of course he would be offended that a normal person wouldn't like the things.

 **("...Roaring along... "It was flying.")**

Harry sunk down even lower into his couch while _Harry_ at the same time facepalmed before turning to give Harry the most silent talking down anybody had ever seen. The Weasley twins didn't even try to read this conversation, by now they had heard enough from the other ones to guess what it would entail.

Everybody else who would have chewed him out for his stupidity in that comment decided that little Harry had done a good enough job of it.

 **(Uncle Vernon nearly... "MOTORCYCLES DON'T FLY!")**

"Shows what you know." Muttered all the wizards and even Mrs. Figg.

Vernon was pretended he didn't hear them, although the quivering of the mustache gave them both away.

 **(Dudley and Piers sniggered... get dangerous ideas.)**

The twins and Marauders in the room suddenly smirked, and after a moment Harry smirked back. Suddenly adults were fearing for their sanity...

 **(It was a very sunny... that it wasn't blond.)**

Weasley's were once again rolling around laughing. They, Percy included, didn't think they could ever get enough of Harry's attitude. Remus was laughing as well, while Sirius joined the Weasley's on the floor after a couple seconds of staring at the book like he couldn't believe what he just heard.

 **(Harry had the best... to finish the first.)**

The adults were not happy with the fact that they did that for the ungrateful boy, but they really weren't happy that the only reason Harry got any at all was because Dudley wasn't happy with the one he already had.

None of them noticed _Harry_ turning to Harry with a question, or the grimace on both of their faces afterwards, well, except for the twins. They seemed to have made it their mission to find out every little detail of Harry's life before Hogwarts.

Dudley also grimaced, remembering what he had done to that before 'giving' it to Harry.

 **(Harry felt, afterward... the reptile house.)**

Ron and Hermione suddenly sat up, suddenly paying the most attention they had for the whole chapter. They knew that it was coming up soon.

Harry, meanwhile, was nervously watching Sirius, he knew what Sirius thought about it after telling him sometime during the tournament, but...

 **(It was cool and... it was fast asleep.)**

'Hmmm, now that I think about it, I wonder if he was faking it...' Harry thought to himself. 'Makes sense considering how Dudley was treating him...'

Dudley groaned, he knew what was coming, and he now that he thought about it, he could honestly say he kind of deserved it.

 **(Dudley stood with... snake just snoozed on.)**

"Are you really his servant, Mr. Dursley?" Luna asked innocently. Most of the wizards in the room choked on their laughter, wanting to hear this conversation.

"Am I his- No I'm not his servant! I'm his father! Where did-" But Luna cut him off here. "Oh, if your not his servant, then why are you following his orders like a servant would? Or did your parents let you order them around too?"

Both Vernon's were sputtering so bad nobody could tell what they were trying to say, although even if people could tell, they wouldn't have heard it over the roaring laughter that was the Weasley clan, Harry, and Sirius.

 **("This is boring," Dudley... the rest of the house.)**

"Did you ser- really just compare your life to that of a snake at the zoo, Harry? Yes, Sirius, I just did that." Remus responded to Sirius' put out expression. Put out because he hadn't gotten to use his running gag.

Harry was snickering at Sirius's face, along with everyone else in the room, before he said slowly, "Yeah, well, a lot of the time it kind of felt like I was living in a cage... So, yes?"

The adults just sighed and turned back to the book.

 **(The snake suddenly... and winked, too.)**

Sirius was starting to look at Harry like he was a little crazy. Harry was starting to wish he could disappear into the couch and never be seen again. He had no idea how his godfather would react to him speaking to or having anything at all to do with snakes. Sure, the two of them had spoken before about how abilities and whatnot didn't make you evil, but... that was _his_ Sirius.

The one who'd helped him out during the Tournament, and the one he'd stayed with that summer before the hearing. That was the Sirius he'd actually held a private conversation with, who'd tried to be a father despite Molly's interference. This Sirius had so far only been alone with them to tell stories about his father while his aunt and uncle got yelled at.

He knew he was being stupid, but...

 **(The snake jerked... _that all the time_.")**

"Harry, are talking to the snake?" Sirius suddenly asked, very, well, seriously, with a strange look on his face.

Harry scrunched in his seat and stared at his shoes. "Yes." He said softly. Then he just waited. But Sirius just said nothing, just pulled him into a hug and whispered something to him that made Harry look happier.

Vernon scoffed. "Nonsense, snakes don't talk, they don't have the brains for it, and even if they could, how is a human supposed to understand them? The freak's mind is playing tricks on him."

Harry muttered something in Parseltongue that made _Harry_ laugh. That's when Harry got a new idea. The Gryffindors started to get excited when they saw the look on his face.

Moody muttered something about testing for his family tree at Gringotts when they got a chance.

McGonagall decided to keep reading before the Dursley's could start up an argument, although she was impressed with how Harry had gotten a handle on his Parseltongue, last she heard he needed to be near a living snake for it to even be a possibility, and he couldn't tell when he was speaking it either.

 **("I know," Harry murmured... WHAT IT'S DOING!")**

"Dudley, Piers had the worse timing in the world." Harry said dryly.

"I'll agree with that." Both Dudley's said under their breath. How many times had Piers ruined some scheme of their's with his horrible timing? It took a minute for _Dudley_ to realize that he had just agreed with something Harry Potter said.

While _Harry_ scowled during his panic, Harry and Dudley just watched, both amused and annoyed.

 **(Dudley came waddling... back with howls of horror.)**

While Sirius and Remus had been growling at that thought of Harry getting punched like that, they fell silent, both of them eager to find out was so horrifying. The looks on their faces had both Harry's clutching their sides from laughing so hard.

 **(Harry sat up and... tank had vanished.)**

"Powerful bit of accidental magic there..." Flitwick mused, staring at Harry thoughtfully. He was going to see about testing the boy when this blasted war was over with.

Everyone chose to ignore the Vernon's muttering death threats under their breath, especially Remus and Sirius since they're the only ones who can really hear what's being said anyway, although they all decided to keep a closer eye on those two while they were there.

 **(The great snake... Thanksss, amigo.")**

Hermione just shook her head, muttering something about a weird conversation with a snake. Harry laughed nervously before hissing that they agreed that never happened.

"Harry," Remus scolded. "What have Sirius and I told you about talking to strange snakes? Especially with the war on. You never know what their thinking, Slytherin's symbol is a snake for a reason."

Harry raised his hands defensively, "But this wasn't a strange snake! I know her! I think she was drunk or something that day though, because..." He shuddered before glancing at Hermione again, looking away just as quickly.

"How would a snake get drunk?" Fred asked. "Yeah," George added, "They can't exactly hold a bottle to drink it, can they?"

"Trust me, you don't want to know." Ron said darkly. The other two shivered and Hermione muttered something about a nest.

If the wizards were weirded out by this conversation, even in the wizarding world this is not normal, it was nothing to how the Dursley's felt about it. Even Dudley was starting to question Harry's sanity, and he was the only one of the six Dursley's who were on good terms with the guy.

 **(The keeper of the... to squeeze him to death.)**

Everyone turned to stare at Dudley, who just demanded "What? I was eleven, ok? Sheesh."

 **(But worst of all... weren't you, Harry?")**

"Worst timing ever." Both Harry's and both Dudley's muttered. _Dudley_ could care less that _Harry_ would get in trouble from Piers opening his big mouth, he just hated that the guy had such bad timing with some things, but such good timing with others.

 **(Uncle Vernon waited... him a large brandy.)**

To say Molly was angry is an understatement. "First of all, did you just say 'no meals?' And secondly, why are you drinking when you are angry? With two kids in the house!" All this was said in that sweet voice mothers sometimes get when you messed up royally.

Vernon just stared warily at her, without answering. Bad decision.

Harry had to jump up to pull her off of him, she was punching and kicking everywhere she could, all while yelling about how you didn't withhold food from a child, you didn't drink angry with children in the house, and you didn't lock children in cupboards as punishments. All the others could think as they stared at the door Harry dragged her through, with Percy's help surprisingly, was how lucky Vernon was that Harry had her wand.

When Percy and Harry finally felt it safe to bring her back in, they did it with a tight grip on her arms, and then Harry put a sticking charm on her seat before sitting her back down and going back to his own seat, wondering idly if they could call it a day after this chapter so he can get some sleep, he knows Ron and Hermione are in need of some too. While they took care of her, Madam Pomfrey noticed suddenly that she had her wand back, and reluctantly set about seeing to the worse of Vernon's Molly inflicted injuries. Otherwise, she left him as he was.

 **(Harry lay in his dark... kitchen for some food.)**

 _Vernon_ was not happy, Vernon was in too much pain to care. "You ungrateful little freak! How dare you steal from us! You should be happy with what we give you and stop complaining!"

Sirius was really getting tired of the freak comments. He would have gotten up to finish the job Molly started on the Vernon's, but _Harry_ needed him more. As _Vernon_ yelled, _Harry_ had started to shrink in on himself with a resigned and accepting look on his face while his older counter-part started mouthing along with what _Vernon_ was saying, word for word, with an equally resigned look on his face... although Harry also seemed to be more annoyed with it then his younger self. Sirius pulled _Harry_ in for a hug and started whispering that he was not a freak and to not listen to the man, but _Harry_ didn't look like he believed him.

The others in the room were also disbelieving of what they were hearing. They noted idly that Dudley looked vaguely disgusted at both versions of his father, while the younger Dudley looked gleeful at what his father was saying. The Petunia's were just watching, although there faces also looked a little gleeful, although not quite like _Dudley._ Frankly, the adults were disgusted and impressed at the same time. Disgusted that a child could be this cruel to someone else, and impressed that Dudley seemed to grow up and learn how wrong this was.

After calming _Harry_ down, Sirius asked if they could just finish this chapter already. They would deal with Vernon later, when there weren't children in the room.

 **(He'd lived with the... in that car crash.)**

People glared at the Dursley's and Dumbledore again for reminder of that little lie.

 **(He couldn't remember... pain on his forehead.)**

"You remember that much?" Molly asked faintly. A few of the other adults looked a little sick at that thought that Harry remembered just that much, just wait till they found out what Dementors did to him.

Harry just shrugged. Yeah, he remembered the light, and so much more. They didn't need to know that though, wait until third year, then they could know all about it. Hermione and Ron turned to glance at him, but when he shook his head no, they just turned away again.

 **(This, he supposed, was... them in the house.)**

"I have pictures now. Hagrid gave them to me after that whole mess with the Mirror." Harry said with a grin. The teachers looked disapproving at the reminder of that Mirror and the Stone, especially Hagrid's involvement in that whole thing. Of course, they didn't know all the details yet...

 **(When he had been... were his only family.)**

Now Sirius and Remus just looked guilty. Harry said not to worry about it, he knows why they couldn't be there, but he said it softly so that only they could hear him. Them having canine hearing comes in handy for private one-way conversations.

They just turned to smile softly at him but didn't say anything. He may have forgiven them for not being there, but they weren't about to forgive themselves. Or Dumbledore. He was the one who didn't even bother with a trial and who kept reminding Remus to stay away because of his furry problem, how many times over the years had Remus tried to visit? Too many to count.

 **(Yet sometimes he... tried to get a closer look.)**

"Ok, now that is a breach in security. If he's there in the first place so wizards can't find him, then they just walk up to him in the streets? We're lucky none of those were Death Eaters!" Sirius yelled. Moody nodded in agreement.

To everybodies shock, Harry turned to his younger self and asked if he remembered seeing a big guy staring at them a few weeks ago (remember _Harry_ is from just a couple of days before Dudley's birthday and the trip to the zoo in this). A big guy with not a lot of hair and and almost pinched expression. **(I don't remember what they all look like and I don't have the books here with me, sorry if my descriptions don't match the books)**

When _Harry_ remembered who Harry was talking about, Harry turned to Dumbledore and said that now that he thought about it, that man was without a doubt a Death Eater by the name of Nott. Nobody even bothered asking how he knew the Death Eaters well enough to put names to faces. They were just too horrified that a Death Eater had been near Harry before he even got to school. Moody narrowed his eye and went back to scribbling away, this time on a new parchment.

He seemed to have several different pieces of parchment, one for things for Pomfrey to check the boy for, one to check on things when they got out of here, and one just for Death Eaters.

 _Harry_ chimed in by saying that he'd seen that guy around a few times, always when Aunt Petunia made him go grocery shopping so she didn't have to carry anything too. Harry muttered something to him in Parseltongue that made _Harry_ look unrepentant before switching to English and asking McGonagall to finish the chapter.

 **(At school, Harry had no one... disagree with Dudley's gang.)**

Harry muttered something in Parseltongue again before asking if they could leave it there for the day before he, Ron, and Hermione fell asleep right there.

Ron and Hermione chimed in with their agreement, and now that people looked, they did all look like they were about to fall asleep where they were. Then again, they were in the middle being tortured for information and an escape before being pulled to this room...

All the adults agreed and Molly said she would come wake them up for supper and they could go back to sleep afterwards. The three of them looked at her gratefully before getting up and stumbling half-asleep already towards the nearest door that they really hoped had real beds in it. Once they were out of the room, Molly turned to the Dursley's and firmly asked Ginny and the twins to take _Harry_ and _Dudley_ and explore their little domain, find it's limits. For once, the twins didn't bother to argue, as much as they wanted to stay. Dudley even decided to go with them.

Once they were gone, Molly turned to the Dursley's and Dumbledore. "So..."


	4. Dinner and a nap

_Once they were gone, Molly turned to the Dursley's and Dumbledore. "So..."_

At least Dumbledore had the decency to look afraid of what was coming. The Dursley's just sat there and stared at her. They figured that she couldn't do anything to them without her wand. Too bad they didn't know that Harry had given them all back while he was going out the door.

"First off, you locked a child, your only nephew, in a cupboard for eleven years, then you starve him too?!" By the end she was close to screeching, but she still had enough sense to keep it down to a yell for the canines. "If the rolls were reversed you know full well Lily would have treated Dudley as her own, without caring about any bad blood between the two of you!"

"As if we would want Dudley to go to her in the first place! If anything happened to us he is going to Marge! She will treat him right, and she is normal!" Petunia scoffed.

"That's not the point! If something had happened to Marge too?" Molly asked, and Petunia pursed her lips before looking down. "Then he would have gone to Lily and James, they would have treated him like their own son, 'normal' or wizard!" She suddenly stormed out of the room after mumbling something about dinner.

Everybody ignore Moody scribbling away on his parchments, by now his list consisted of: investigating this Marge they kept talking about, arrest the Dursley's for child abuse and neglect, have Albus investigated, see what happened to the Potter fortune after so long and why Harry wasn't getting statements from Gringotts, free Sirius and see who else was thrown in there that shouldn't have been, and find out what happened to the Potter house-elves. Because it was rather strange that none of them ever showed up to take care of there Master. Especially with how much he'd had to sit through James raving about how much the elves just loved their young Master.

On her way out, Molly fumed. How dare that woman treat her only nephew that way! She wanted to stay in there and continue giving that woman a piece of her mind, but she also knew that everyone else would appreciate some food sometime tonight, and while she was sure that nobody was too hungry at the moment after the feast Harry cooked up, and now she knew why he was always trying to help in the kitchen, she also didn't want them going to bed with nothing.

As she walked through the hallways, why were there suddenly hallways anyway, she heard talking from one of the rooms. "...you also need to stop acting like a baby whenever you want something. That attitude will get you nowhere in life." That was Dudley, but who was he talking to?

"What do you mean?" That was _Dudley..._ so they were having a little discussion. She knew she shouldn't listen, but... screw it, she was listening. "It's gotten me pretty far so far."

"Yeah, with mum and dad. It'll get you nowhere outside of that house. If anything, it'll just bring you more trouble. Also, stop being so mean to Harry. He's actually a pretty nice guy."

"Nice guys don't set python's on other people at the zoo or play all those pranks." _Dudley_ countered.

"Pretty much all those pranks were because of something we did to him. And the python happened right after I hit him, I'd say it was deserved." Molly was getting impressed. This boy had already learned that his behavior was wrong and stupid. Maybe all children should be threatened with Dementors to get them to behave... not that she would ever actually take a child anywhere near one of those creatures.

When _Dudley_ remained silent, Dudley continued. "He is not a freak, he is just different. And I know now that the kind of behavior we have always shown him is our parents talking, and its wrong. Learn to make your own decisions."

With that he walked out, and straight into Molly Weasley. He just watched her, daring her to comment, but she just smiled and asked him to help her get dinner started. "But didn't we practically just have lunch?" He asked, his confusion was all over his face. She smiled and said, "Yes, but I figure it could be something light, and I needed an excuse to get away from your parents for a while." He grimaced and nodded in agreement, smiling apologetically.

"I'm sorry for the way they've treated him, for how I've treated him too, I never knew why we did that, it was just the way its always been."

"That's quite alright, as long as you know it was wrong, your parents on the other hand..." She sighed. "As a mother I find the behavior they have towards both of you to be disgusting. Yes, I know they never neglected you or treated you like Harry, but for parents to just let their child walk all over them and order them around... and to encourage that kind of behavior towards other people..." She cut off and shook her head sadly. "Luna was right in asking your father if he was actually your servant. That's how you treated them and they encouraged it."

"I never questioned why nobody else's parents treated them like mine did me and Harry until after the Dementor attack. I assumed that this was normal and everybody else was just weird. I assumed that everyone treated their niece or nephew like that. I always figured Aunt Marge was an exception to this." Dudley stated softly. "Now though, the only thing I don't regret about how we treated Harry was making him cook." At Molly's disbelieving look he smirked and said, "My mother can't cook to save her life. Harry's meals are edible and _really_ good."

She just shook her head, of course if it was a question of actually having an edible meal or being served garbage she would probably take that point of view too if their positions were reversed.

When they reached the kitchen (ok, when did this place become a maze? Did this have something to do with her telling the twins to go explore?) she decided on light stew and found some vegetables that she set Dudley to chopping before she got everything else out and started mixing what she needed together before setting the stove (why were they all normal Muggle appliances anyway?) to let it cook slowly. She didn't want to serve dinner too soon after lunch after all. Nobody would be hungry enough to eat it! While that happened, she started teaching Dudley how to bake a cake. She figured they could celebrate the Trio's safety while they were here.

* * *

After they were all finally done chewing out the Dursley's, Sirius went in search of his younger godson. He still couldn't get his head around the fact that there were two of his godson here, and that he was going to get to spend some time with him! And, not only that but if all went well, when they finally finished these books and got out of here, he would be a free man! The first thing he would do is get Harry out of that awful house, of course it might be more helpful to find somewhere for them to live first... there he was!

He had finally found _Harry_ in a room that looked oddly like the Gryffindor common room, with the Weasley twins and Ginny, playing exploding snap and just talking. He idly wondered where the Dursley boys had gone, oh well. That kid hurt and bullied his godson, he ignored that little voice that reminded him of how he used to bully Snape.

"Hey guys! Hows it going? Your mother went to see about getting dinner around." He informed the Weasley's. They nodded, the boys looking excited for more food. Although _Harry_ looked confused about something. If he asked why she was making it and not him... "But didn't we practically just have lunch?" He asked. The Weasley's breathed a sigh of relief, they had never seen Sirius really lose his temper before, and they didn't want to now. They had a feeling that it would make earlier look like a little kid throwing a fit. Sirius just chuckled and said that he suspected she wanted more of an excuse to get away from the Dursley's than anything else. Besides, he doubted that she would hurry up in there.

"So, what were you kids up to? Besides exploding snap." He said when _Harry_ started to hold a card up with a look that clearly questioned whether Sirius needed glasses. Fred, or was it George? No, Fred, George was the one missing an ear. Fred said that they were just killing time, discussing things, wondering about the Trio and what happened to Hermione. That kind of thing.

"When is the last time you saw any of them?" Sirius asked in what he hoped was a nonchalant way. The only way that hearing Harry talk about how they had to gather information would be ok is if Sirius knows that the three of them weren't completely cut off from friends. That hope was dashed as soon as Ginny answered quietly that nobody had heard from or about them in months. It had been early August when they had to run for it and it was now a little after Easter. _Harry_ looked worried when he asked, "What do you mean when you say they had to run for it? Are people going to be after me, did he do something wrong?"

"No, he didn't do anything wrong, he did everything right, and that's why he has to run. It'll probably be explained more in the books, but..." Here Fred looked to Sirius to explain more about Voldemort, after all, Sirius was his legal guardian, even if the law didn't see it that way at the moment. It was his place to tell _Harry_ about what was going on. Not there's.

Sirius sighed, "Voldemort is a very bad wizard, he was considered the most evil wizard alive at the time of his fall. You heard earlier in the book that you were the one to make him disappear right?" At _Harry's_ nod he went, "Well, nobody except Dumbledore and, it seems, your older self, is sure why that is. What we do know, is he was after you in the first place. Again, few people know why, and those that do never told me. Unless that's changed?" He looked to the Weasley's, who shook their heads no. So not even they knew... maybe Harry did. He'd have to ask, or it would come up in the books. "From what I can gather, your older self is on the run simply because Voldemort has returned, and he is one to hold grudges."

 _Harry_ was silent. So, the most evil wizard alive was after him simply because he survived? Shouldn't he be a little more surprised or horrified by this thought? Instead he just nodded and said that if they learn how he came back, they could fix it before it happened, that note did say after all that there was information he needed that Dumbledore didn't give him in time. Hearing this, Sirius just smiled, this kid was determined, although he did have to wonder about why the kid didn't sound the least bit concerned about the fact that a powerful and evil wizard was after him and he might get killed.

He figured that now was as good a time as any to explain about Peter and that night, so he asked the Weasley's if they could be excused before taking _Harry_ to an empty room to talk. The two of them were going to have a long discussion about That Night, the Dursley's, how _Harry_ was holding up with all of this, he was going to learn more about his godsons life even if he didn't like what he was hearing.

* * *

After entering the bedroom and claiming their beds, they didn't even bother changing or brushing. So many months on the run had kind of instilled the need to sleep whenever you could and not worry about the small stuff. Hermione knew that if her parents ever found out that she hadn't been taking proper care of her teeth they would go nuts, the thought made her sad because she didn't know if she would ever see them again. Of course she was going to go looking for them after this was all over, but who was to say she could find them again?

While they laid there, Harry quietly asked them what they thought of all this. They would learn what happened at the end of the war, his younger self, Mrs. Figg, and Moody would make sure that Dumbledore actually took steps to change things, or his younger self and Sirius would just go and change things on their own after Moody got Sirius out of Azkaban.

Hermione answered back that she didn't know, all she knew was that some things were going to come to light in these books that were going to make some people angry with each other or with them. Harry nodded, thinking about of few of those things she was talking about, stealing potions ingredients, setting Snape on fire, a few of the things he said or thought in the privacy of his mind... just a few examples of stuff that he knew would make Snape alone very angry with him. Not to mention a few of the other teachers when they found out. He was going to be explaining a lot once they left the Dursley's and got to school in these books.

He heard Hermione finally fall asleep and sighed softly, thinking of everything they'd, no, everything SHE'D been through in the past day. If they read these books and if his younger self and Sirius could change things, none of this would have happened. Hermione wouldn't have been tortured for information she didn't have, for reasons that never happened. Honestly, Lestrange was paranoid to think that a 17 year old wizard could have possible broken into her vault and actually manage to get away. Of course, the way she had panicked led him to believe that maybe one of the Horcruxes was in there, which meant that they were going to have to actually break into her vault and somehow get away.

After Hermione fell asleep, Ron wondered absentmindedly if his younger self would still manage to become friends with their younger selves if he changed a bunch of stuff. Harry said he didn't see why not, although it might be a little disconcerting for _Ron_ and _Hermione_ for _Harry_ to know so much about them. He chuckled before he too fell asleep.

Slowly he fell asleep and absentmindedly wondered as he did whether or not he would have 'scar-nightmares' while he was in this place.

* * *

Several hours later, when Molly finally called the gathering to come eat, it was Sirius who volunteered to go wake up the Trio, with _Harry_ in tow. When knocking on the door didn't seem to get any kind of reaction from those inside, he slowly opened the door to find all three teenagers still fully dressed, shoes and all, and all of them collapsed on one giant bed that looked like three beds pushed together. He smiled and went to shake Hermione up, he figured she would be the easiest and would know how to wake the other two boys up, considering she was the one who said earlier that Harry wasn't a morning person, and all the Weasley's had seemed to agree with her.

It made him mad to think that all these people knew his pup better than he did. Grateful that they were there, and Harry had somebody, sure. But mad that it wasn't him.

It took a few minutes, either the girl could sleep like a log or she was just really that tired, but when he finally got Hermione to wake up, it took her another minute to wake up enough to shove the boys off the bed with her and then wonder why the beds were shoved together.

"We didn't shove them together... they were separate when we fell asleep... at least I think they were..." She mumbled.

Sirius just raised an eyebrow before asking if she could wake up the boys, who had somehow slept through the trip from mattress to floor. She just glanced at them and got up, grumbling the whole way about boys who never wake up in the mornings, and why is it always her that has to get them moving.

"Harry, Ron. Wake up." She shook them, hard, enough that Pomfrey would probably have checked them for a concussion had she seen. When that didn't work, she rolled her eyes and sat back for a minute to think. She could always... yeah and if that didn't work there was always... yup. She motioned Sirius and _Harry_ away from the door, both of whom were really wanting to see where this was going, especially when she made sure the two boys didn't have their wands on them. She didn't feel like getting cursed so soon after waking up. Of course, it wouldn't be the first time...

Taking a step back, she let off a bang from the end of her own wand, one that resembled a gunshot, going off right in your ear. That definitely got the boys up. Both of them jumped up thinking they were under attack and reached for their wands... only to find them gone. Where were their wands? And where were they? This wasn't the tent.

"Sleep well?" Sirius asked behind them. Oh yeah, the weird room, the books. No Death Eaters anywhere nearby. Harry turned around to greet his godfather sheepishly, while Ron and Hermione started bickering about if that was really necessary ("What if we had attacked you?" "That's why I took your wands, idiot.") Harry broke them up by informing them that dinner was ready.

When they nodded to him before walking out the door, still bickering, Sirius turned to Harry and opened his mouth to ask, but, "Yes, they always bicker like that. I'm waiting for the day they realize they like each other and knock it off." He smirked over his shoulder as he followed his still bickering friends out, leaving Sirius and _Harry_ standing in the room with their jaws dropped.

"Well, that was different." _Harry_ said.

"Apparently you get used to it." Sirius replied with a small smile. The Trio kind of reminded him of the Marauders. As much as they fought sometimes, they were close and they knew to take none of it too seriously.

When the two reached the dining room, they found that the adult Dursley's and Dumbledore were again at their own little table, while the two Dudley's were allowed to sit with the others.

"This is as good as ever Mrs. Weasley!" Harry said between bites of bread that Molly had at some point made to go with their stew. He dipped another bread chunk in the broth to soak before eating it too.

Molly smiled. "Thank you dear, your cousin helped." At this Harry's head shot toward his cousin and he shot him a double thumbs up to let him know he did a good job since his mouth was still full of bread. Everyone else at the table who could speak voiced their approval to Molly and Dudley as well.

Over at the other table, the four Dursley's couldn't believe what they were hearing. Their boy had helped these freaks in the kitchen! Why was he being so nice to them? They just couldn't figure it out. At least the younger was still acting normal. Although, that wasn't quite right now that they looked.

He looked like he was starting to enjoy himself. His face had at least lost its scowl and he was starting to smile at some joke the twins had made, this turned into him joining the rest of the table as they laughed at one of the stories the twins and Harry started telling of some of their more successful pranks.

The other wizards noticed what the Dursley adults did, the younger Dudley was starting to open up to them, was actually trying to be nice to a confused _Harry,_ and was enjoying his time here. Molly smiled Dudley's way, and he grinned back, happy that some of his talk had gotten through to him. Now if only the conversation they had earlier about the younger boys health had gotten through... he was still eating as pig-like as ever though. Oh well, baby steps, right?

Moody looked over at Harry and Ron and commented on their reflexes when when waking up like that. They looked confused for a moment until they realized he must have seen how Hermione woke them up and their 'fight first, ask questions later', mindset at that moment. They both mumbled a thank you, leaving Hermione to look smug and the rest of the room to wonder what on earth they were talking about.

Sirius couldn't help but feel proud as Harry shared some pranking stories, he felt even more proud when the teachers started muttering about how much they wished they could give out detentions right then, apparently he had escaped getting caught quite a bit, although the effect was slightly ruined by the fact that the only teacher not fighting to not laugh at the all the stories was Snape. Sirius absentmindedly noticed that Harry avoided telling any stories that had to do with pranking Snape or Slytherin. Although the twins could care less if they told their most feared professor about all the pranks on him and his house. Although they too seemed to avoid mentioning Harry in any of those stories.

Either Harry figured Snape hated him enough without him and his house being pranked by him and didn't prank the snakes, or he really didn't want to tell those stories in front of the man when they were going to be stuck here together for who know how long.

Over at the Dursley and Dumbledore table, Dumbledore was ignored. Like the plague. He couldn't help but wonder why everyone was so angry with him. Yes, maybe he should have checked up on the boy better, and ok maybe he should have stayed to explain more to the Dursley's or something, but he truly believed the Dursley's to be the best place. Sure, maybe the boy was skinnier than he would have liked, and maybe he wasn't loved, but they still let him stay, they still fed him and gave him something to wear, even if it was Dudley's over-sized old clothes, despite the fact that he sent them a stipend to help with the boys care... ok, now that he really thought about it... the Weasley's cared for their brood of seven better than the Dursley's cared for one boy despite the fact that the Dursley's clearly have more money to care for him with.

So far, the only thing that mentioned them specifically paying for was that day at the zoo. And that was only because they couldn't think of anyone else to force his company on. Now that he thought about it, they probably only bought him food that day because they were in public and they didn't want people to ask questions about why one boy wasn't eating while the other two stuffed their faces. A persistent and stubborn part of him tried to remind himself that they had fed him that morning, until he remembered the look on _Harry's_ face when that part was read. He hadn't been able to believe that they had just let him eat.

As much as he hated to admit he was wrong, he needed to get Harry out of that house, get Sirius out of prison, and get those two living together like they deserved as soon as this reading thing was done. At any rate, once _Harry_ and Sirius were living together, he was going to have to make sure that Sirius understood the importance of not letting _Harry_ have his fortune until he was older. That much money could go a boys head after all, plus he liked being in charge of so much money, and the healthy allowances he occasionally allowed himself out of it. He was just... paying himself for his services, that was all.

First things first though, get back on the others good side so he can join them at the other table, this was ridiculous! These people ignored him no matter how much he tried to be polite and get a good conversation rolling, how on earth did Harry grow up to be the polite boy that he was? These relatives of his had no manners whatsoever! As Headmaster of Hogwarts and as such an important figure in the wizarding world, (that's not bragging, that's stating a fact) he was used to people at least answering him when he asked how they were doing. Or at least being polite, personally he didn't really care for fame all that much, but it was handy to use when he needed people's attention for something.

Once dinner was finally over, which Dumbledore thanked everything he could think of for, Molly asked Dudley to help her in bringing out the cake, something he jumped to do happily. Something that didn't go unnoticed by anybody. Although only his parents were unhappy with the sight of him being happy to help these freaks with anything.

Once the cake was brought out, the Trio's jaws dropped once they saw what it said.

CONGRATULATIONS FOR RETURNING SAFELY

RON, HERMIONE AND HARRY

They knew Mrs. Weasley, sure, but even they weren't expecting this, in fact nobody was. And the fact that Dudley helped with it just made it more amazing. As everyone dug into the cake, Harry and Dudley ended up alone for a few minutes. "I noticed our younger selves being friendly earlier." Harry said quietly.

"Yeah, I talked to him about his attitude."

Harry laughed. "Yeah, I figured." He turned serious again. "How have you guys been doing, in hiding and all?"

Dudley sighed and looked towards his parents, "I'm doing ok with it, I mean, I'm getting along with Diggle and Jones at least. My parents though... They won't stop complaining about every little thing Diggle and Jones do. It's like nothing is good enough. I've learned to live with it, but... Honestly though, I think Diggle and Jones are about ready to throw my parents off a cliff." He looked at Harry seriously.

Harry just frowned. That was actually better than he was expecting to hear, but it still wasn't good. "Let me guess, your the only thing standing between your parents and that cliff right now?"

"Yup."

Harry sighed and looked away for a few moments. "Well, maybe us being here will do them some good in that regards then." With that he stood up and excused himself, saying that he was going back to bed.

When Dudley went and asked Ron and Hermione if he was alright, they looked worried for a moment before they hid it and told him that it had been a long time before any of them got any decent sleep, he'd be all right. He was just tired.

Everyone else stayed and talked for a little longer before they figured out the sleeping arrangements. They decided on three to four to a room, with the obvious exception of Moody and Snape who would get their own rooms. The female Hogwarts staff and Mrs. Figg together, the male Hogwarts staff together, the four Dursley adults together, Bill with the two Dudley's, Charlie with Percy and Neville, Ginny and Luna would be with Mr. Ollivander so they could keep an eye on him for Madam Pomfrey, the twins got their own room because nobody had a death wish, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley because they were married, Remus with Sirius and _Harry_ , and of course the Golden Trio were already crashed out in their room.

Even after all this time, Molly was still a little wary of Hermione being alone with the two boys, but she figured that she had been alone with them for the past few months, besides, she knew Harry saw her as a sister, he wouldn't do anything and she raised Ron better than that. And with everything they had obviously been through, she figured they would need each others presence right now, and they were obviously used to the others being close by and she didn't want any of them to wake up panicked wondering where the others were.

Before they all went off to find a room, Madam Pomfrey looked Ollivander over again and made sure Ginny and Luna knew what to do if anything happened and gave them a few potions just in case. She also made sure the two girls knew where her room was before letting them take her patient to bed.

The Dursley parents all tried to corner their respective son and talk to him about his sudden friendliness with the freaks, but Bill saw them coming and whisked away his two charges before they could get close. They decided it would probably be best to resume reading whenever everyone was up and had eaten. Considering what the Trio had been up to before coming here, nobody had any idea when they would wake up. That, and they didn't really have any kind of alarm clock in this place. They could probably ask for one, but... nah, just let them sleep.

* * *

Everyone slept fairly well. The Golden Trio were tired enough for the nightmares to stay away for the most part, although they all woke up with at least one sometime during the night, but were soothed back to sleep by the sound of the others breathing as always.

The ones who really had trouble sleeping were in Remus's room. Sirius didn't sleep too well because of Azkaban-induced nightmares, and _Harry_ didn't sleep well period.

For one thing, it took Sirius and Remus ages to convince him that the bed was his, to please come out of the closet, and that yes, the bed was all his to sleep in, no they weren't making him sleep in the closet, they weren't the Dursley's. After they finally got him in the bed, it took him forever to finally go to sleep, there was just too much open space surrounding him.

He finally went to sleep after he remembered Ron saying something earlier about his older self piling pillows around himself at night so he could sleep. So, he asked for some pillows, and found it much easier to drift off after that, although he mostly just dozed.

His head was telling him that if his older self could trust these men, then so could he. But his heart kept telling him that these two were still strangers, godfather and honorary uncle or not, and it wasn't about to just let him fall asleep with a couple of strangers in the room. Although he did like this bed, it was very comfortable, which was a very foreign concept, he'd never felt this comfortable before, well... that he could remember or not. Maybe if he just closed his eyes for a bit...? He was out before his eyes finished closing.

* * *

The next morning, everyone else was up and in the kitchen while Molly made breakfast with _Harry_ and Dudley's help, well, mostly _Harry_ 's. Dudley knew nothing about cooking and _Harry_ was kind of trying to teach him as they went. Which was most of why breakfast was taking longer than normal.

Everyone was pleased to note that _Harry_ 's clothes fit him and looked new, Sirius must have asked the room for them. They all had to say, he looked much more like the wealthy boy that he was and much less like a street urchin in his new clothes.

The only ones not up yet was the Trio. Finally, breakfast was ready and Molly sent Bill to see if they were at least awake yet. She didn't really want to eat without them, but she also wanted them to get as much sleep as they could. Merlin knew when the last time they had a decent night's sleep was.

When Bill came back to inform the room that the Trio was still sleeping, the general question was when the last time any of them slept was.

Molly looked concerned as she said that it would be best to just let them sleep. In the meantime, everyone else could eat. It was at least another twenty minutes before a yawning and stumbling Ron and Harry came into the room, followed by a much more awake looking Hermione. The boys wordlessly sat down and pulled anything edible towards them while Hermione told everyone good morning and sat down before actually looking at what was on the table and filling her plate.

Those who had never seen this kind of morning behavior from the Trio were a little shocked, they knew Harry and Ron weren't morning people, but this was a little ridiculous. The Weasley's just smiled and starting trying to talk to the two boys in a well used attempt to wake them up faster. At first their answers were unintelligible grunts but as they started to wake up the grunts became words.

Sirius was slightly amused, this behavior was very similar to _Harry_ , who had taken at least twenty minutes of steady chatter from Sirius and Remus to get him awake enough to leave the room. It seems he doesn't change much in this regard. Although it did show off his cooking skills even more when they knew he could cook just as well as he did they day before even when he was mostly asleep.

Once everyone had eaten, was aware of their surroundings, AND could form complete and coherent sentences, everyone went back in to continue reading the book.

This time though, Flitwick charmed it so it would read itself, and stop whenever they needed to talk. It was also charmed to be in Harry's own voice at first, until Harry changed it to read in Aunt Petunia's voice.

 **Chapter three: the Letters From No One**


	5. Letters from No One

_This time though, Flitwick charmed it so it would read itself, and stop whenever they needed to talk. It was also charmed to be in Harry's own voice at first, until Harry changed it to read in Aunt Petunia's voice._

 ** _Chapter three: the Letters From No One_**

 **(The escape of the... holidays had started)**

"Just how long was that?" Molly asked, looking furious at the thought of Harry staying in his cupboard, with no meals, for longer than a day. Not that she liked him being in that cupboard in the first place.

She also gave an annoyed scowl towards Harry when it caught up to her just whose voice read that line. The others looked confused too until they realized and looked over and also scowled at him. He smirked. Honestly, a room full of wizards and not one of them notices he modified the charm on the book... he wasn't even being sneaky about it. Remus and Sirius were wondering how they didn't notice. Either they were slipping or he was good. Even Moody was looking at him in surprise, not even he noticed Harry doing anything.

He raised his hands in surrender when McGonagall cleared her throat and nodded towards the book and modified it to instead read in different voices every other line while they went back to interrogating the Dursley's and _Harry._ They hoped he was modifying it to McGonagall's voice or something and not anything else crazy. After all, he hadn't really had a chance to prank anyone in months... or anybody to prank even if he got the chance to. Hermione was no fun to prank and Ron, while very fun to prank, grew up with the Twins AND shared a room with Harry for the past six years.

He was too easy to prank, he was so paranoid about getting pranked, that he walked right into it half the time, and the other half was when he was just starting to relax after not getting pranked when he expected. You would think he would know better by now... needless to say, Ron was too easy to be any fun or much of a challenge.

While he did that, _Harry_ proclaimed that to be roughly three weeks. Plus maybe a couple days, he would have to check again on the exact date school got out. Around this time was when he usually started hiding some food in the cupboard for when summer started after all. For some reason summers were always when Dudley made even more of a habit to steal his food. What little he normally got anyway. They didn't feed him much.

Molly was livid, but she sat back and let the reading continue, alternating between glaring at Dumbledore for putting Harry there, and glaring at the Dursley's for doing this stuff to him.

Moody frowned and made a note to investigate the Muggle school officials, surely one of them started asking questions at some point, after all, three weeks was a long time for a boy to not come to school, unless that was the only thing they let him out for... Although it also begged the question of why none of them even tried to help the boy when it was clear his cousin was scaring off all potential friends. Or that none of them noticed that one boy was wearing rags while the other was dressed in new, clean clothes, let alone the fact that _Harry_ was literally skin and bones right now.

As the book started reading again, Hermione thought about something... first off, did Harry even go to school in those three weeks, and if not, why did the school never investigate, and secondly, didn't Dudley have friends over? Little boys have a tendency to explore places, no matter where they are, they will go where they are not supposed to. So, one of them had to have noticed that somebody was living in that cupboard, right? Wouldn't one of them have let something slip to their parents? Boys also aren't exactly always known for thinking about what they say next. She'd bring it up later.

 **(and Dudley had already... on her crutches.)**

While a few people groaned when they noticed the voices changing, Mrs. Figg turned to glare between the two Dudley's, to which Dudley promptly winced and apologized before reaching over and smacking _Dudley_ upside the head when he just sneered at her. He then gave the younger him a short whispered reminder of their discussion the day before and that it wasn't nice to run people over. So, he had to apologize. Right. Now.

 _Dudley_ glanced over at Mrs. Figg and grudgingly apologized for running her over, nobody commented on the fact that technically, _Dudley_ hadn't actually done it yet. They knew Dudley was trying to teach his younger self some manners and how to not follow his parents example. Which of course reminded all the professors that the boy was going to get as good a quality education as they could manage while they were here. They would bring it up at lunch.

Moody and Molly nodded in approval, the boy was finally getting some discipline in his life, they just tried to ignore the part that the discipline was coming from himself...

 _Petunia_ and _Vernon_ were confused. What did _Dudley_ do wrong that he had to apologize for? It was her fault for getting in their precious Dudder's way! Petunia and Vernon were also confused. What was wrong with their boy? Why was he being so nice to everyone? And why was he apologizing to that woman? She was one of them!

With that out of the way, "Those were really expensive presents, you should take better care of your things and be more grateful, young man." McGonagall said sternly. If he were her son or even grandson, he would be over her knee quicker than he could blink if she caught him being that ungrateful. Dudley winced at her tone and nodded quietly.

"Especially since now that I think about it... they would be getting a stipend for Harry's care from the Potter fortune..." Remus said thoughtfully. Both Harry's turned to face him, both horrified to think that they had been funding the Dursley's rich lifestyle this whole time.

Moody hummed thoughtfully, "Since that money was to specifically set for Harry's care, when we prove that none of it actually went towards the boy it was supposed to, the goblins will have them working the mines faster than anyone can blink." He smiled unpleasantly at the Dursleys.

"Now, I'm sure that will not be needed, I'm sure all this can be..." Dumbledore started. He would still need to send the boy to them at least for a couple of weeks a year after all. He was sure he could talk Sirius around to seeing how important that was. The blood wards were too important, he didn't believe Harry when he said that it was doubtful they were actually in existence anymore.

"Oh, its needed." Moody growled. The Dursleys deflated when they heard that this freak wasn't going to let the old man let them get off. They didn't know what goblins were, but they were obviously part of the freaks world.

 **(Harry was glad school... sport: Harry Hunting.)**

"You know it's bad when I can't even argue about your description of why I was the leader." Dudley commented. "And I am not the one who called it 'Harry Hunting' either. It think it was Piers who started yelling about 'going Harry Hunting.'"

"True... but you are the one that started the whole thing, regardless of who named it." Harry reminded. Dudley just nodded.

"At any rate, Piers now hates me. After the Dementor incident, I went back to school, started doing my work, stopped bullying everybody, stopped..." here he looked over at his parents and the professors, but figured it would come out sooner or later and decided to just get this over with, "smoking, drinking... drugs... none of the heavy stuff, mind..." he added the last bit quickly when people gasped. "At any rate, I stopped doing all that stuff and now Piers hates me. I never really... I mean, I always thought we were close, you know? I tried to talk to him at the beginning of the year about what I decided over the summer, it is really hard talking about something that's magic related without actually talking about something that's magic related, and he called me weak and said to come back when I figured it out. Well, I figured it out and I didn't go back. And, of course, the rest of the gang came to find me when school let out this past summer before we went into hiding... Piers got a hold of them and told them what I said... I had to run from my own best mates." He finished with a scowl.

Harry smiled. "Dud, I believe I tried to tell you when you first met them that they were bad news. Trying to keep them as far from me as possible was only part of the reasoning there. And I didn't know about the drugs part."

"Yeah... nothing major or anything... or even that often. Anyway, I stopped right after our attack." Harry just nodded. He didn't really have time for much else before Madam Pomfrey bustled Dudley into the makeshift infirmary she had discovered that morning. While they were in there, all the wizard adults were disgusted when the Dursley's didn't look the least bit bothered by what they heard. They would probably just just say that their Dudder's was special and could do whatever he wanted. Or try and excuse it away to the stress of school and living with Harry or some other nonsense.

Although Aunt Petunia did look at least a little disturbed about something... no telling what it was about though. Moody scowled and went back to scribbling on his parchment.

The book continued when Dudley and Madam Pomfrey came back, with the latter whispering something in Snape's ear that made his lip curl before he jerked a nod irritably.

 **(This was why... see a tiny ray of hope.)**

"You know its bad when you don't even enjoy the summer holidays." Fred stated. He was thinking back to the summer where they rescued Harry, that was probably the worse summer out of all of them, at least before that he could get out of the house. At least, they hoped it was the worst one.

"Just what were you doing wandering around outside boy? You had chores to do!" Uncle Vernon barked. It was the first any of them had really spoken in a while.

Both Harry's just rolled their eyes before stating, in unison, "We finished all our chores really fast so we could get out before Dudley's gang showed up."

A few people looked at the two of them weird, a few looked at Dudley and were happy to see that he looked sorry about his 'gang', and Snape was left thinking about how unnatural he always found the speed Harry finished his detentions with him was. Nobody should be that fast at scrubbing cauldrons, or the tables, or even at pickling frog guts and gutting flobberworms. Nobody. Especially with it being as well done as it always was.

"If you finished your chores you should have gone right back to your cupboard, we don't want you wandering around where the neighbors can see you!" _Vernon_ snarled.

"And do what? Just sit there and wait for Piers and the others to come and yank me out again? No thanks." Harry scoffed. Moody narrowed his eyes.

Remus silencioed the fat muggles before they could start arguing about whether or not Harry should lock himself in a cupboard and wait to be beaten up or not. The others all thanked him, they were getting close to hexing the man. Especially Sirius, who was now holding onto his younger godson protectively while glaring at the Dursley parents.

 **(When September came... was very funny.)**

"What's so funny about going to a different school?" George asked.

"It's just a different place." Fred finished.

"It's a class thing... its kind of the same attitude deal pure-bloods have with muggle-borns. That whole, I'm better because my family were wizards and yours aren't deal. Only, with this, it's the whole, my school is special and exclusive, yours isn't." Hermione explained.

"Ahhh."

"So, basically, Dudley was being a Muggle Draco Malfoy." Fred concluded. Which made Snape scowl and rise to his godsons defense, but the book had already started reading again. He kinda wished his godson was here so he could learn something.

 **("They stuff people's...** **what he'd said.)**

The Weasley's were on the floor laughing. Even after knowing the guy for 6 years, his comments never got old. The teachers just shook their heads. They had all heard their fair share of comments like that in their classes, either jokingly directed at them, or seriously directed at another student, usually a Slytherin or whatever other student was taking it upon themselves to be antagonistic towards Harry or even the teacher.

They had always thought Harry was the most Slytherin Gryffindor they had ever seen.

The Weasley Twins though were both thinking that stuffing people's heads in toilets was a line that just should not be crossed. Remus, Sirius, and Snape were all thinking that not even the Marauders went there in their 'war on Snape'. And they'd done some pretty humiliating things to him. That one was just... over the line.

Not only was it humiliating, it was also more disgusting than anything else.

 **(One day in July... over one of her cats,)**

Mrs. Figg made a noise that nobody could quite identify.

 **(and she didn't... had it for several years.)**

"I suspect that part of that is also because I know that you'll be on your way to Hogwarts soon, which means it will be a while before I see you again, and that your Aunt Petunia will no longer have quite as much control over your happiness as she does now." Mrs. Figg said with a sad smile. She really did love that boy, and she hated that she couldn't spoil him a bit without Petunia saying he couldn't come back.

The Harry's, especially the older one, smiled brightly at her, "It's ok, we get it, its not your fault."

 **(That evening, Dudley... training for later in life.)**

All the students were making various gagging noises and muttering about how they were never complaining about the Hogwarts uniform again, while the teachers were trying to understand the logic of encouraging students to hit each other. The Hospital Wing was busy enough with victims of hexing and whatnot when using magic on each other wasn't allowed... Madam Pomfrey shuddered when she thought of how full the Infirmary would be if students WERE allowed to hex each other if they wanted. Not to mention encouraged.

Harry was just amused by their reactions, if they thought it was awful to hear about, they should have been there to see it.

 **(As he looked at... trying not to laugh.)**

The Weasley Twins were back to wondering how Harry survived in that house, not being able to laugh whenever he wanted to and all. If they had to stifle their laughter or risk being beaten up or sent back to the cupboard, they would have gone mad.

Nobody failed to notice the reproachful looks the Dursley parents threw the Harry's for daring to laugh at their boy.

 **(There was a horrible...** **dared to ask a question.)**

The teachers grumbled some more about students not participating verbally during class, or not coming to a teacher for help when they need something.

Although everyone else was mostly trying to figure out why Petunia was drowning a bunch of random rags in the sink. They were starting to wonder if maybe they shouldn't be put in the mental ward.*

 **("Your new school uniform," she said.)**

Now people were really starting to wonder if Petunia wasn't crazy. Although she would probably just claim the stress of having to raise Harry.

For one thing, you weren't really supposed to go walking around in wet clothes all the time, you would get sick. For another, hadn't she heard of washing what was obviously supposed to be Harry's new clothes in the washing machine with the rest of the clothes? (Not that all the wizards knew what that was, they just knew that clothes weren't generally washed in the sink, that was where dishes and potatoes were washed.)

 **(Harry looked in...** **had to be so wet.")**

The Weasley's were gone. Even Molly was chuckling a bit. They always liked Harry's sense of humor.

 **("Don't be stupid,"... when I've finished.")**

"Considering the size of those old things..."

"I doubt that." The Twins said.

"Probably look like he/I was wearing an elephant skin most likely." Both Sirius and _Harry_ chimed. Harry just turned to stare at them, wondering how on earth, well he could understand _Harry_ , they have the same sense of humor, but Sirius...?

 **(Harry seriously doubted... elephant skin, probably.)**

Everyone turned to stare between the Harry's and Sirius. _Harry_ they could understand, but Sirius too? Sirius and _Harry_ just turned to stare at each other before bursting out laughing. Remus watched them with a smile, this is what life was supposed to be like for those two, instead... But they were going to fix that. Mrs. Figg, Dumbledore, and especially Moody would be able to get Sirius out of prison, get _Harry_ away from the Dursleys before school started up again...

 **(Dudley and Uncle Vernon...** **behind his paper.)**

 _Harry_ started to say something, but Harry just said, "Wait."

 **("Make Harry get...** **Smelting stick, Dudley.")**

"Makes more sense now." _Harry_ said before leaning against Sirius. Harry just nodded absent-mindedly.

It didn't look like he was paying much attention to what was being read at the moment.

 **(Harry dodged the...** **had written to him.)**

"Actually, Harry, you would have had fan-mail sent to you all the time, although I suppose Dumbledore would have the wards set up to redirect THOSE owls. Ministry owls, school owls, and personal owls would get through, as long as you know the owner of course... although that wouldn't really explain how my post owls would have made it seeing as how I hired them..." Hermione trailed off mumbling to herself about how it was determined what owls got passed the wards when some weren't allowed.

Harry rolled his eyes and made a mental note to lend her his book on warding later on. Unknown to him, Bill was thinking similarly.

"Yeah, Harry. I know Ginny sent something at some point..." Fred teased, making Ginny temporarily revert back to how she was back in Harry's second year, shy and accident prone when around the Potter. Even as she sent a bat-bogey hex at Fred.

Remus frowned and muttered something about how he sent letters and presents all the time. Both Harry's frowned at him. They never got anything from him.

"Would one of the things you sent be a little stuffed stag?" Harry asked slowly. Remus looked at him and nodded. Dudley winced, that stag was destroyed years ago, if he remembered right he drowned it in the bathtub before setting fire to it out back to see how long it would burn when wet.

Harry looked at him accusingly, but he couldn't really say anything considering neither of them had known where it came from, and even if they had, it wasn't like Harry would have gotten to have it in the first place.

Although Harry really wished he had gotten it, at that moment, a very wet and soggy stuffed stag appeared in the middle of the room, leaving everyone to stare at it.

"But, that's, I mean..." Dudley stuttered.

"The room must act like the Room of Requirement, only able to reach through time itself..." Remus said slowly, watching Harry pick up the stag and dry it off, doing the same with the one that appeared after it, so that both boys got their stuffed stag.

Harry got a thought, "Where is the rest of my mail over the years? They are right, as much as I hate it, there should have been a mountain of fan mail." He asked Dumbledore.

Dumbledore looked uncomfortable, "It's all stored in a room in Hogwarts, everything cursed or malicious was of course taken and destroyed, but everything else is still intact."

"And letters from Gringotts?"

"I took them, I've been taking care of your money, don't worry."

Moody raised an eyebrow, withholding mail like that was against the law, especially mail from Gringotts. He made a special note to take the boy to Gringotts to make sure his fortune was still intact, as well as take the boy to get the rest of his mail. It was obvious Albus had never bothered to even after the boy started school.

 **(Who would?)**

"Oh, nobody much, just half the female population of Britain, yeah absolutely nobody at all." Harry grumbled under his breath.

"Don't worry, Harry, they'll get over it someday." Luna said, smiling gently while the Weasley's and Neville agreed. Remus hid a grin, and Snape just raised an eyebrow.

These books were destroying the image he had built up of the boy over the years. He didn't know if he liked that or not. It didn't help when said boy was clutching a stuffed toy to his chest like he'd never been able to hold one before.

 **(He had no friends... be no mistake:)**

 **Mr. H. Potter**

 **The Cupboard under the Stairs**

 **4 Privet Drive**

 **Little Whinging**

 **Surrey**

The room fell quiet as the younger generation all turned to Professor McGonagall, who was looking particularly uncomfortable. After all, she was the one to mail the letters out, which to the kids meant she had to have seen the address and known where Harry slept.

McGonagall looked around before she said it was an enchanted quill that wrote the addresses. Yes, she looked them over, but she had then gone to Dumbledore to see if he knew anything about this. She said he told her it was probably just that something was wrong with his room and he happened to have been staying in there for a bit while the problem was sorted out. Since the address was written to a bedroom the next time she sent a letter, she hadn't thought anymore of it.

Now, everyone turned to Dumbledore. McGonagall and the other professors' were ticked. If he could lie like that to his second-in-command, who knows what he lied to the rest of them about. They may not always expect him to just out right answer their questions all the time, but they also thought him to be honest with them on the occasions he felt it safe to discuss something.

In this instance, they felt this to be much more important than any other trivia they tried to weasel out of him over the years.

Dumbledore was feeling very uncomfortable when they all just stared at him. For one, he could tell that he would be stuck at the 'table of shame' as he started to call the table he was forced to eat at with the Muggles for a looooonnnngggg time yet. For another, Fred and George Weasley were giving him The Look. Similar to the one that the Gryffindor students were both terrified and excited to see on Harry's face, just not quite as... refined.

The Weasley Twins were terrifying when they were indignant for their friends on a good day, but when they also consider that friend to be an honorary Weasley... looking around at the others, he noticed Sirius, Remus, and the Harry's giving him the same look.

Oh Great.

From what he heard earlier, Harry alone could give both the Marauder's and Twins combined a run for their money. If he were to join forces with them... plus his younger self...

Dumbledore was dead.

 **(The envelope was thick...** **at his own joke.)**

Everyone raised their eyebrows in his direction. That was horrible, even if they didn't live with Fred, George, or Harry.

Remus and Sirius looked personally offended that someone like him would be making that joke, especially since that time they sent those 'letter bombs' to the whole school in fifth year. Nothing that did permanent damage, just... enough. The worse that happened was some singed eyebrows and retaliation from the Slytherins, but that was normal.

 **(Harry went back...** **, Harry's got something!")**

Everyone groaned, Neville in particular asked Harry why he hadn't opened it in the hall or hid it in his cupboard. Harry just shrugged, saying that if he did that, then things wouldn't have been nearly as interesting. Smiling at Hagrid as he said it. Even Dudley grinned at that one. Although he still looked a little afraid of Hagrid.

Hagrid just blushed and ducked his head. He really hoped THAT moment wasn't in these books.

 **(Harry was on the...** **white of old porridge.)**

Several people couldn't decide whether to find that description funny or disgusting, Hermione and Luna settled for disgusted while everyone else settled for mildly amused.

Remus and Sirius were more angry that this man just took Harry's Hogwarts letter like that. Those were considered a rite of passage.

 **("P-P-Petunia!" he gasped...** **goodness- Vernon!")**

"So dramatic, Tuney. You always did blow things out of proportion." Snape sneered.

While the Petunia's glared at him, he noticed the Harry's looking between them, looking confused for a moment before seeming to decide to ask later and instead enjoy watching their aunt taken down a peg or two.

 **(They stared at each... his Smelting stick.)**

Molly looked over at him, "Young man..." She said warningly. Dudley looked sheepish and squeaked out a "Yes ma'am."

Vernon and Petunia were starting to get worried that the freaks put some kind of spell on their Dudder's.

 **("I want to read...** **furiously, "as it's _mine_.")**

The younger kids, except for Neville and Luna, started to look excited at the prospect of Harry blowing up at them. At someone who wasn't them! Neville and Luna, who had no idea of Harry's temper outside of Defense with Umbridge, and they figured she was a special case, looked confused at why everyone else was getting so excited.

 **("Get out, both of...** **LETTER!" he shouted.)**

"There it is!"

"The famous Harry Potter temper!" Fred and George cried.

While everyone else laughed, Harry ducked his head in embarrassment, but not before he heard Sirius and Remus remark that he got that from his mother. To which Snape reluctantly nodded in agreement.

Ron was also saying how glad he was that that temper wasn't usually directed at him... much... anymore.

 **("Let _me_ see it!" demanded Dudley.)**

"Er, Dudley? You do realize that it wasn't yours, therefore you had absolutely no right to see it, right?"

"Yeah, I know. Back then... I thought everything revolved around me."

"Good, as long as you know."

 **("OUT!" roared Uncle... between door and floor.)**

"While I am not thrilled about how you handled the boys, I suppose that at least Harry wasn't singled out for the rough treatment." Molly grumbled.

Sirius looked at both Harry's glasses, the older ones were being held together with magic and the younger ones with a lot of tape. He decided to get him new ones the moment he was free and had Harry out of Durskaban. He too started a list of things to do, he would leave it with Moody before they left these rooms, and Moody could give it to them later when he officially freed from Azkaban.

"Harry, how is it that..."

"...You can wrestle a troll..."

"...and who knows what else you've gotten up to..."

"...all these years, but you can't..."

"...wrestle your cousin away from a door?" The Twins demanded.

"First off, do you see the size difference between the two of them?" He demanded pointing at _Harry_ and _Dudley_. "Second off, we were trying to be quiet, and I really didn't want to get in trouble for roughing up 'mommy's little angel'." He finished to everyone's amusement. "Besides, I got him back for it later." He said with a smirk.

Dudley shuddered. He remembered what Harry did. Harry being allowed a bedroom had only made it easier for him to get out and about to prank him to high heavens. One of the main reasons he hadn't wanted to give him the bedroom was that it didn't lock. At the time anyway.

"Umm, what did you...?" Neville trailed off glancing at the teachers.

"It involved a lot of tape, honey, super-glue... some extra sheets... I think there were a few empty notebooks involved somewhere... don't ask... some rotten tomatoes I nicked out of the garbage..." Harry started but trailed off into his memories. Remembering good pranks and thinking about how much more elaborate he could make them with magic.

Sirius didn't know whether to be impressed or to start sleeping with one eye open, as both he and Remus looked over at the boy looking innocently looked back at them. The teachers decided they didn't want to know more details.

 **("Vernon," Aunt Petunia... watching the house?")**

"Why would I be watching you? My job is to make sure Harry is alright. Something that is extremely hard to do when the people he spends the most time with are the ones causing the most pain." Mrs. Figg groused.

Moody scribbled something down. By this time, if the rest of the rooms occupants were to see this list, some of them would be very scared.

 **("Watching- spying... Uncle Vernon wildly.)**

"Again, why would I be watching you?"

 **("But what should** **... we won't do anything...")**

"Really wish you had written back that you didn't want him to go." McGonagall grumbled.

Harry was a little shocked and offended by this. "Why would you want that? Didn't you want me to go?"

"Of course I wanted you at Hogwarts! If a Muggle guardian does not want their ward to learn magic, then a ministry representative would come by to explain things more, be sure of their decision and what it would mean, or to be sure that everything is alright with the child. They know that some Muggles just won't understand... so they go to make sure the Muggle relatives aren't trying to beat the 'freakishness' out of them." She explained. "In cases like Muggleborns, a professor goes to their home to explain anyway, but for Muggle-raised students, where the Muggle already knows about magic... that is why we didn't have a professor go to your home."

Both Harry's looked at each other before turning to Uncle Vernon. "You should have written to them that you didn't want me going!"

'That doesn't bode well.' All the teachers thought.

 **("But-"** **"I'm not... dangerous nonsense?")**

It suddenly felt like a tornado was going through the room.

When it died down a bit, people looked over and realized that the energy was coming from both Snape and Dumbledore.

"Albus, if you do not take him from that house as soon as we get out of this room... you won't have to wait until the boys sixth year for me to kill you." Snape warned. Although those who really knew him best, Dumbledore and McGonagall, could tell that he was barely keeping himself in his seat and not attacking the Dursley's.

Those who knew about Snape killing Dumbledore started to wonder if maybe there hadn't been something more going on that night. Moody reassured him that _Harry_ wasn't staying in that house a moment longer than it took him to apparate to his house after this.

Dumbledore nodded while everyone just stared at Snape, but he didn't say anything else, just stared at the book while Madam Pomphrey explained how dangerous it was for the child to have somebody try to 'stamp out' there magic. Apparently, magic could be very volatile if suppressed. Basically, if they had gone any further, Harry could have at some point blown Surrey off the map.

This whole time, Sirius and Remus were being sat on by the two Harry's so they didn't get up to murder the Dursley's then and there.

 **(That evening when... Harry in his cupboard.)**

"Did he even fit?" Neville asked, eyeing _Vernon._

"Nope."

 **("Where's my letter?"... "Who's writing to me?")**

"Wow, when you want something, you just don't let it go, do you?" Dudley asked.

"Nope." Harry replied as he glared at his snickering friends.

 **("No one. It was... "I have burned it.")**

Sirius and several of the others started muttering about rites of passage, and traditions.

 **("It was _not_ a...** **quite painful.)**

Sirius and Remus put their heads together and started whispering plans to get back at him, if this man had to force himself into smiling, and if it was obvious that it was painful, then that was not good in their books. It reminded Sirius a little too much of himself growing up once his parents realized that he didn't care for their pure-blood ways.

 **("Er- yes, Harry... Dudley's second bedroom.")**

"Well, that explains why the next letter sent was addressed to a bedroom. I suppose that letter at least did you some good." McGonagall sighed. She did not like thinking of her students living like that, although it did make her wonder how many other students from Muggle backgrounds had something similar happen, and they just missed it.

Well, maybe not similar, similar... but at the point where they were disliked or feared because of what they could do.

"Forget that," Sirius turned to Dudley, "You had two bedrooms while Harry was stuck in the cupboard?"

Moody scribbled some more.

Dudley just looked at the wall and didn't say anything, he personally was still learning the full extent of what his parents treatment of his cousin really meant. He also knew that he never helped matters. So, when Harry caught his eye and gave him a little smile, he couldn't help but smile back.

Harry also just realized something, his Uncle said his name. It wasn't boy, or freak. He said his name, _Harry_ seemed to realize the same as they looked at each other with wide eyes, whispering to each other in Parseltongue about how amazing that was. They really loved being the only ones in the room that could speak that language, especially with both Sirius and Remus there with their canine hearing.

 **("Why?" said Harry.)**

"You question..."

"...the worse things, Harry."

"Sometimes, you just..."

"...need to accept that..."

"...good things can happen." The Twins informed him. He just raised an eyebrow at them.

They looked at him for a moment before answering, "Right, stupid question. Sorry."

 **("Don't ask questions!"...** **had four bedrooms:)**

Sirius started grumbling again and strained to be allowed to get up, Harry just adjusted his position while casting a light sticking charm on the couch.

 **(one for Uncle Vernon... cupboard to this room.)**

Sirius frowned, adding a shopping trip with his godson to the list of things to do once he got out of prison.

Snape was thinking that even he had more than that growing up, while Hermione and Ron had their suspicions that Harry literally lived out of his school trunk confirmed.

They had both noticed over the years that, with the exception of new textbooks or school robes, the contents of Harry's trunk never changed. Almost like that was all he owned.

 **(He sat down on the... never been touched.)**

"You really should take better care of your things." Hermione said to Dudley.

"At least with the books being in good shape, I had something to do in there." Harry muttered to his younger self. _Harry_ just nodded. Better than in the cupboard with absolutely nothing to do. Well, except play with his little toy soldiers... but there wasn't really only so much he could do with them.

 **(From downstairs... make him get out...")**

"Wow, I really sounded like that?" Dudley asked, disgusted. The Harry's just nodded at him.

Dudley made a face and turned to _Dudley_ before silently, so the reading could continue, lecturing on why that kind of behavior was wrong and would no longer be tolerated.

 **(Harry sighed and...** **have his room back.)**

Dudley groaned and held his head in his hands, all while thanking that Dementor for knocking some sense into him. He ignored the part where the thing was trying to steal his soul.

Molly was glaring daggers and muttering under her breath about poor parenting and a few other things that made her own brood stare at her in shock.

And she yelled at them for saying stuff like that. They didn't say anything though, she would just claim that she was the mother and there was a time and a place for everything, as long as she didn't catch them saying stuff like that they knew they were safe.

 **(Harry was thinking...** **4 Privet Drive-'")**

"You know, Duddiekins,"

"...the smart person would..."

"...have known to keep quiet..."

...when you want to read,"

"or do..."

"...something that your authority..."

"...figures don't want you to read."

"Or do."

"Can you guys please stop doing that? It's giving me a headache." Dudley said, while holding his now aching head. Everyone else was smirking or snickering at him.

They loved it when somebody else was getting the 'Twin lecture' as it was called.

 **(With a strangled cry... neck from behind.)**

"Was that training for the real thing later on?" Hermione asked with a smile. She would never forget watching Harry jump on a trolls back.

"What? What real thing? What else have you been strangling?" Sirius asked. He really didn't like that he knew next to nothing about his own godson.

"Er, you'll find out, Sirius." Harry said, while avoiding looking at his Head of House, who had her lips pursed in disapproval.

 **(After a minute of...** **fail. He had a plan.)**

"Oh no." Both Ron and Hermione groaned.

"Harry, none of your plans ever end well." Hermione started.

"Yeah, mate. Every time you make the plans things go bad." Ron continued.

"It's when you make it up as you go that things work out best." Hermione finished. Everyone else stared while Harry pouted.

"Gred, I think we have competition in the twin speak department."

"Forge, I think you are right." The Twins looked at each other, silently determining to not be outdone.

"Guys, since when were you that in tune with each other?" Ginny asked hesitantly. They were not like this before the wedding.

The Trio looked at each other before all of them answered at the same time, "The Ministry incident."

All the adults from the Trio's time groaned. They had not wanted that rumor confirmed. Nope. They really did not. "What were the three of you even doing there? I really hope it wasn't just to free those Muggleborns you ended up putting on the run." McGonagall asked.

"We needed, this." Hermione said as she pulled out the remains of the locket. "This used to be one of the objects we are hunting so we can finally defeat him. Oh, and by the way Sirius, this is also what Regulus died trying to destroy." She said gently as she passed the locket over to him. He took it with shaking hands and just stared at it while Harry put his arms around him, promising to tell him the full story later on when they were alone.

 **(The repaired alarm clock rang at six o'clock the next morning.)**

"Wait, how did you fix that? It was in pieces." Dudley said, confused.

"Um, you know what? I have no idea. I was just holding the pieces wishing I could use it, and it started working... Accidental magic?" He shrugged. The adults stared.

"WHAT?! Stop staring, it's creepy." He muttered. He didn't like reminders of why he was so much different than everyone else.

"Potter, I don't think that was accidental magic..." Snape said slowly. "I think that was wandless magic." He finished. Now everyone REALLY stared.

"STOP STARING!" Harry yelled. _Harry_ fidgeted beside him, also very uncomfortable with the attention.

Suddenly, everyone stopped staring, although Sirius leaned over and whispered in both boys ears about how it was ok to be a little different. He just got a look. He decided he would have to work on that later on, he knew what it was like to be put down his whole life for being different or even thinking differently. He again ignored the niggling thought that that was how he treated Snape in school.

 **(Harry turned it off...** **toward the front door-)**

"That's actually a very good plan." Hermione said with a surprised look on her face.

"Hey, I can come up with good plans, you know." Both Harry's said at the same time.

"Sometimes, although with your luck, I'm waiting for the, 'this is about to go wrong and your about to get caught', part of the plan." Ron said.

Harry pouted while _Harry_ stared at Ron and Hermione, wishing that there younger versions could be there. Needless to say, the room heard his wish.

See, magic is very unpredictable. When Future Hermione cast the spell that made this possible, she essentially, and unknowingly, made something similar to the Room of Requirement. One that could take the part of her spell regarding time and keep bringing people in according to the occupants wishes. Like with the stag earlier. It just might take a bit more time for the room to bring people.

 **("AAAAARRRGH!")**

"And here's the part where he gets caught!" Most of the Weasley's yelled at the same time.

While _Harry_ looked at them longingly, Harry muttered about traitors.

"So that's what happened... I wondered." Dudley muttered out loud.

 **(Harry leapt into... something alive!)**

The younger Weasley's, those that actually heard anything at all about the Dursley's, started chanting, "Please, please, please." Molly didn't bother saying anything. She was kind of hoping too.

 **(Lights clicked on... been his uncle's face.)**

"YES!" Those who had been chanting yelled. Vernon moved to say something, but Petunia stopped him, eyeing the wand Harry had just pulled out and started absentmindedly polishing on his shirt.

 **(Uncle Vernon had...** **before his eyes.)**

Sirius started growling again, and Remus joined him. They really hoped that he got to read one of those soon. They couldn't help but notice the smug look slowly appearing on McGonagall's face as she realized that the book was about to go through her attempts at getting Harry his letter. Honestly, she should have just ignored Dumbledore and taken it to him in person when he failed to get the first one.

Although she had to admit, it had been fun thinking up new ways to get them into the house. She really should have known that something was wrong when those measures became necessary though.

 **(Uncle Vernon didn't...** **had just brought him.)**

"Strange ways... right. Are you sure you weren't talking about yourself there?" Snape sneered. It was then that Harry, Sirius, and Remus noticed that the look Snape was giving the adult Dursley's was on a whole 'nother level of hatred then what the three of them ever received.

They were a little shocked with the realization that there was somebody in the world that Snape hated more than them. They honestly weren't sure whether or not to be insulted or grateful that they didn't hold the full extent of Snape's hatred, they might not like him, but they were all more than willing to admit that he was very powerful and dangerous.

What followed was a fifteen minute spat between the Petunia's and Severus Snape that all those still Hogwarts age and younger were escorted out of the room for by Molly Weasley. This just solidified to Harry that Snape and his mother had to at least be next-door neighbors, with Petunia obviously making enemies of Snape at some point. There was no way they didn't know each other before school.

He finally had somebody to tell him about his mom before Hogwarts! Now to get him talking...

 **(On Friday, no less...** **at small noises.)**

"Somebodies getting paranoid!" Sirius said in a sing-songy voice. He grinned in the Dursley's direction. They couldn't help but think that this grin was only slightly less terrifying than Harry's when he was in the mood.

Everyone else chuckled appreciatively.

 **(On Saturday, things... living room window.)**

"Wow Minnie, have you been taking lessons from the Marauder's all this time?" Sirius said.

She just smiled his way, not wanting to admit that she had in deed. After all, you couldn't teach boys like them and not pick something up. You had to if you ever wanted a chance of ever catching them. And then of course there were the Weasley Twins and Harry... They were terrors and that was when they didn't work together.

 **(While Uncle Vernon...** **Harry in amazement.)**

"Again, every witch in Britain." Harry deadpanned.

 **(On Sunday morning...** **"no darn letters today-")**

"Er..." Arthur started.

"The Muggle post system doesn't run on Sundays. It's to give the workers a day off. Remember, Muggles don't use owls that don't care what day it is." Hermione said before he could really ask.

The Weasley's chuckled, yes, she really knew the family head well.

 **(Something came whizzing... trying to catch one-)**

"Why didn't you... Oh, right. Seeker. Nevermind."

 **("Out! OUT!"** **Uncle Vernon... him into the hall.)**

Sirius started growling again and eyeing _Harry._ He decided to check later when they were in private. Harry, he figured could get away with it considering what little he had already heard about where the boy had been and what he'd been up to the past few months.

While he thought, he missed Molly throwing a silent 'tantrum' while her husband tried to calm her down. The others figured it had something to do with the whole 'threw him into the hall' bit.

 **(When Aunt Petunia..** **. No arguments!")**

"None of us wanted to, believe me." Harry shuddered.

"With half his mustache missing and that look..." Dudley continued, shuddering himself.

 **(He looked so dangerous with half his mustache missing that no one dared argue.)**

"My point exactly!" Both Harry and Dudley said at the same time. They just high-fived. Petunia looked like she was about to have a heart-attack.

 **(Ten minutes later... in his sports bag.)**

"While I'm glad your finally telling the boy 'no' about something, you shouldn't hit him. Certainly not upside the head." Molly said, really annoyed. She was glad that the older boy was trying to change, and trying to teach the younger one as well.

When Arthur opened his mouth to ask something, Hermione cleared her throat and pointed at the parchment he had been using the day before to write his questions about what these Muggle things were.

"Oh, right." He said, and started writing. Everyone else rolled their eyes or chuckled fondly.

 **(They drove. And...** **whenever he did this.)**

"Minerva, I think you should have just gone to their house before it got to this point." Sprout said, she was worried about how Vernon would treat the kids while he was in this mental state. He had already hit his son, something that didn't exactly bode well for how Harry was treated on daily basis, and now he was the one behind the wheel. Sure, she knew they didn't wreck or anything, but still.

Minerva nodded in agreement, looking at Dumbledore with the 'I told you so,' look. People were starting to wonder if the man was really fit to run a school.

 **(They didn't stop... on his computer.)**

"Huh, now that I think about it... I haven't seen a computer in _weeks_ " Dudley said. He sounded surprised that he hadn't noticed this before.

Harry shrugged. "Priorities can change." All the other wizards in the room nodded. Especially Molly, where once she would have given anything to see her twins settle down, start getting serious about their grades and get a good upstanding job in the Ministry, now... now she was just happy to see them doing something they obviously loved.

The fact that the Ministry was now under Voldemort's control actually had very little to do with that, surprisingly enough. She had seen how much they enjoyed their shop when they last visited Diagon Alley.

 **(Uncle Vernon stopped... and wondering...)**

"You never have been able to sleep well in open spaces, have you?" Hermione wondered out loud shaking her head. Of course, now that she knew that was caused by growing up in a cupboard...

"I will never understand how on earth you get all those pillows to stay there considering how much you toss in your sleep either." Ron said, shaking his head.

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Magic." He said looking at Ron. "And nope." He said shifting his gaze to Hermione before leaning into his godfather. Hopefully this would keep him in his seat if the lighthouse was described.

Snape looked at them and was suddenly wishing his godson was here. Despite the fact that the Trio might not take to seeing him too well. He didn't even care which age his godson was. It could be both of them for all he cared.

 **(They ate stale cornflakes...** **at the front desk.")**

"Minerva, isn't this starting to get a little out of hand?" Snape asked, exasperated. McGonagal shifted in her seat and said nothing.

 **(She held up a..** **. The woman stared.)**

"I would too, I'm surprised she didn't try to report that or something." Hermione said.

"Same. In the wizarding world at least, you KNOW somebody would have said something if they saw something like that." Neville agreed.

"Exactly, everyone is a bunch of gossips, nothing is ever private in the wizarding world."

 **("I'll take them,"...** **gone mad, hasn't he?")**

"You know he shouldn't be around children when even his own wife starts getting scared of him, not to mention that when the kids start to get worried... well, one of the kids..." Sprout amended, looking at Harry. She somehow doubted that he was too concerned over any of this, except for the fact that he probably just wanted his letter.

"Don't worry, professor, it didn't last much longer."

 **(Dudley asked Aunt...** **with a _television_.")**

"Please tell me that I stop whining soon." Dudley... whined.

"In the books, depends on how much future me included you. In real life... you're still whiny sometimes." Harry said casually. Dudley just shot him a glare while the rest of the room snickered.

 **(Monday. This reminded... eleven every day.)**

Sirius and Remus frowned and made a mental note to spoil the kid rotten for his next birthday. Assuming, of course, that Dumbledore could get Sirius out of Azkaban before then.

Both Harry's hugged their stags closer, now they knew that somebody did send them presents, even if the Dursley's interfered.

 **(Uncle Vernon was back and he was smiling.)**

"That's not good." All the Weasley's, Neville, Sirius, and Remus muttered.

"You have no idea." The Harry's muttered back.

 **(He was also...** **television in there.)**

"That is really not good. You really thought that that was a good place for a couple of kids to stay during a storm? Honestly, you would have been better off staying in the car, less chance of the kids getting sick that way." Molly exclaimed.

At this, Harry started eyeing Madam Pomphrey. She seemed to take any _hint_ of a suggestion of his _possibly_ being sick and went all out on him. For some odd reason she seemed to think he was fragile.

In fact, he's a little surprised that she hasn't grabbed him and gone into another room for an examination yet... although that could be just because she was busy taking care of Mr. Ollivander earlier and then it slipped her mind.

 **("Storm forecast for...** **water below them.)**

"Minerva, you really should have just gone to the house, treated it like any other muggle-born student." Snape sighed.

"I know, but I also know that Petunia knows about magic and wouldn't need to be treated like a muggle-born parent. Besides, Albus assured me that Harry knew of his heritage as a wizard."

"I think you just listen to Albus a little too much. If you think something's wrong, then you should just do something and not take his word as law." Flitwick said.

On the other side of the room, Sirius was asking Harry about just how safe that shack really was.

Harry hesitated, glanced at Dudley, who also hesitated, before they both replied that it had four walls and a roof. That was the extent of their explanation for how safe the house was.

 **("I've already got...** **broken-down house.)**

Harry suddenly hissed something, which of course made Sirius look at him in concern, then confusion and realization when _Harry_ hissed back. He had forgotten for the moment that Harry was a Parseltongue in his anger over his treatment with the Dursleys.

' _And they made me row the whole way.'_ Harry said in Parseltongue.

' _They wouldn't be the Dursley's if they didn't though.' Harry_ replied.

Harry paused a moment. ' _True_.'

Sirius just hugged his godsons, he figured that if they were discussing it in a language only they could speak, then it must be something that would make them all mad.

The reading continued like nothing happened, so Sirius figured that Harry suddenly bursting into Parseltongue was somewhat normal. Although the Dursley's did look a little freaked out.

Dumbledore looked like he just had something further confirmed for him, and Harry didn't like the look on his face.

Everybody ignored Moody taking notes down this entire time, as if he were in the middle of an interrogation. They figured the _Dursley's_ were in big trouble when they got out of here.

 **(The inside was horrible;...** **smoked and shriveled up.)**

 _Harry_ raised an eyebrow and turned to Harry, who just shook his head, _Harry_ nodded like he expected that answer and turned back to the reading. Neither noticing that the twins had read their silent conversation and were signaling Sirius that they wanted to talk to him later, alone.

Molly, meanwhile, was a little indignant at what he considered rations and a suitable meal.

 **("Could do with some...** **cheer him up at all.)**

"Ladies and gentlemen, here we have Harry Potter's shining optimistic attitude!" The Twins joked while giving sweeping bows in Harry's direction. Harry just stuck his tongue out and laughed.

 **(As night fell, the... most ragged blanket.)**

Harry had to lean into Sirius and grab his arm to keep him in his seat. Before anybody could blink, the three of them, Sirius and the Harry's, were covered in warm, fluffy blankets.

Harry just sighed and rolled his eyes before burrowing further into them, still leaned against his godfather. _Harry_ looked confused about where the blankets came from (and why) but did the same on Sirius other side.

They were very soft and fluffy after all. He couldn't remember ever feeling anything so soft. Everyone else just shook their heads while the Dursley's were freaking out slightly over the blatant display of 'freakishness.'

Sure they had been doing magic off and on the whole time, it had just been more... subtle before now. Nothing you wouldn't have noticed if you weren't watching for it or used to it happening. Blankets appearing out of nowhere was... noticeable.

 **(The storm raged...** **might be warmer if it did.)**

"Harry..." Sirius said slowly. Harry looked at him confused before he realized how that statement probably sounded to his godfather.

"Not in that way! Just, something besides that old blanket covering me, you know? Little extra shielding from the wind that was blowing in the windows..." He explained quickly.

Sirius nodded. "Good." For a moment he felt a little guilty about immediately jumping to that conclusion. But then he remembered that before this, Harry was very alone, neglected, and abused. He figured that under those circumstances, his first thought was a little justified.

 **(Four minutes to go,... steal one somehow.)**

Harry chuckled at that one. When everyone turned to him, he explained that the house had been full of letters when he got back.

When Dudley went to say that the place had been free of letters Harry explained that he cleaned them all up before the Dursleys got back.

 **(Three minutes to...** **\- three... two... one...)**

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" The Twins and Sirius yelled. Both Harry's jumped so hard that they lost their blankets. Both started grumbling about being comfortable and now they had to move and find their position again. The trio that yelled just grinned. Especially when they saw the small smile on the Harry's faces.

Harry had only spent one summer that he could ever remember with people who cared, that was shortly before the wedding. All the others had been at the Dursley's where he had to stay up late and wait for his presents to come, opening them in secret to ensure they didn't get taken away.

 **(BOOM.)**

"Wait, what?!" Sirius asked, turning to Harry, forgetting for a split second that this was years ago.

"Relax, Paddy, it's nothing bad... just an overgrown teddy bear." He said with a straight face, NOT looking towards Hagrid. Those that knew Hagrid had been the one to introduce him to the wizarding world snorted and also had to fight to not look Hagrid's way when they saw the confused look on Sirius's face.

He slowly turned and let the book continue.

 **(The whole shack..., knocking to come in.)**

"Small break, or just keep going?" Flitwick asked.

"How about we just keep going, Professor, I don't think Sirius will calm down until he knows who is at the door." Luna said looking at Sirius. And it was true.

It looked like it was all he could do to keep himself from shaking his godson and demanding to know who was at the door.

Everyone agreed and they let the book continue, before it could though, there was a flash as the room delivered on Snape and _Harry_ 's wishes earlier.

* * *

In case nobody noticed, I really don't like the Dursley's. Even if Harry and his aunt left on sort of good terms at the beginning of DH. The reason I'm being so nice to Dudley though, is because I see him as just as much a victim as Harry. He was raised thinking beating people up was acceptable, so that's just what he did. He didn't really know any better, and then he was also raised thinking he could do whatever, whenever and there could be no consequences.

*sorry if this offends anybody, I'm not making fun of that kind of situation or any of that other stuff, there were just times in these books where I seriously wondered if the Dursley's weren't insane.

That took a while, sorry about that. It's just, college, and then I had to send my computer in to get the keyboard cleaned out and I was stuck using the freezing cold computer lab for the past almost two weeks... yeah...


	6. The Keeper of the Keys

_**Parselmouth**_

* * *

 _ **(The whole shack..., knocking to come in.)**_

 _"Small break, or just keep going?" Flitwick asked._

 _"How about we just keep going, Professor, I don't think Sirius will calm down until he knows who is at the door." Luna said looking at Sirius. And it was true._

 _It looked like it was all he could do to keep himself from shaking his godson and demanding to know who was at the door._

 _Everyone agreed and they let the book continue, before it could though, there was a flash as the room delivered on Snape and Harry's wishes earlier._

At the bright flashes of light, Moody and the Trio were out of their seats, wands drawn, faster than most could blink. Dumbledore and Snape being close behind them with everyone else in the room still trying to figure out what on earth was happening now.

By the time everyone else had their wands out of their holsters, the light had died down to reveal, a younger Ron and Hermione, along with two Draco Malfoys.

The older Trio and Draco all eyed each other warily, the last time they had seen each other had been at Malfoy Manor after all, when they were prisoners and Draco had been in the room when Bellatrix had her fun.

"You ok there, Granger? My aunt was a little... well actually that was very normal for her..." He started and then trailed off.

Hermione reached up to touch her throat, where there would be a scar. Apparently Bellatrix had something coating her knife to ensure scarring, no matter what the healers did, on the off chance her victims escaped. She nodded.

Snape watched, completely prepared to come between the four teenagers. But...

"You recognized me, you obviously know Ron and Hermione and know where I go, they go. So, why didn't you say anything? Why didn't you tell your crazy aunt that it was us? Would have saved you a lot of trouble later." Harry said, still eyeing Draco with his wand held loosely to his side.

The younger people that had just come just watched everything confused, wondering what on earth was going on, especially _Hermione_.

Draco shrugged, "Way I figure it, the only chance my family has of being free is if you hurry up and kill the Dark Lord already, and you can't exactly do that when your a prisoner in our dungeons. We were only using the cellar because the dungeon was full. Literally, standing room only just about."

Moody narrowed his eyes at the boy, he would be questioning him later. Sirius looked like he was going to curse the boy at any minute, he probably would have by now if he had a wand.

Harry eyed Draco some more before snorting and digging Draco's wand out of the bag and tossing it to him, Draco caught it with a confused look on his face. Harry just shook his head, "You know, I've always wondered if we wouldn't have been very good friends if my first impression of you hadn't been quite so bad. Oh well... we might want to tell the kiddy's what on earths going on before _Hermione_ blows up or something." He noted, looking at the younger ones with amusement.

Snape had relaxed when Harry threw Draco his wand, which he didn't even know Harry had, how on earth did Harry get that? Could that have been while they were making their escape from the Manor?

 _Hermione_ bristled at the comment about her blowing up, even more at what was going on, this was impossible, there was another her! And she was older! This was impossible, impossible, impossible!

McGonagall looked at her and said, "Oh dear, I don't believe anyone from the school has spoken with her and her parents yet." The teachers all looked at each other, this was going to take a while.

"Minerva, why don't you take her aside and explain magic to her, as well as what is going on and get her caught up on the book, and the rest of us will explain to the others where we are and how we got here, and get them caught up on the book." Snape suggested just as Dumbledore opened his mouth to say something.

Dumbledore slowly closed his mouth in a little bit of shock. Normally, his opinion would be the first one to be asked, and now he was basically being ignored unless something in the book happened that the others didn't like and saw fit to blame him for. He was really confused and starting to actually get a little angry at being ignored.

McGonagall nodded and gestured for _Hermione_ to follow her, which the poor girl did very reluctantly. She wanted to know what that man meant by magic, and she wanted to know now, she didn't want to wait.

"Merlin, was I always that impatient?" Hermione muttered watching her younger self follow her professor out of the room with a sour expression on her face. Ron and Harry glanced at each other before stating that no, she hadn't been that impatient at all.

The other men in the room all raised and eyebrow and the women smirked, those two had already been well trained.

It took roughly two hours to get the boys caught up on what was going on, where they were, and what had happened in the book so far. _Ron_ was so blatant in his hero worship that he apparently missed the part with Sirius and Remus complaining _again_ that Harry had literally grown up in a cupboard under the stairs.

Somewhere you were supposed to store cleaning equipment.

The Draco's, however, did not miss that part. Draco looked at Harry very startled, while _Draco_ looked like he was about to start their rivalry off with _Harry_ worse than it ever got with their older selves and start making fun of his home life, but both his older self and Snape reminded him that his father wasn't here, what happened in these rooms stayed in these rooms as far as his attitude and father were concerned.

Interestingly enough, at least in the eyes of the Trio, _Draco_ almost immediately turned into a polite, well-mannered, curious eleven year old. There was nothing visible in him of the bully they knew at Hogwarts. They were a little shocked.

It also didn't escape anyone's notice that Ron was keeping himself between Hermione and Draco at all times, well, it went unnoticed by _Ron_ , who was still very deep in that 'I'm meeting Harry Potter, and there's two of him, this is amazing' part of his brain where he noticed nothing but the Harry's.

Something that made both Harry's and the Weasley's very uncomfortable. Ron finally had enough and went to whisper something harshly in his younger self's ear.

Whatever he said, Remus and Sirius weren't telling, but it got the kid to knock it off.

By this time, _Hermione_ finally came back, and she immediately started in on how irresponsible it was to lock a child in a cupboard, and how she hoped they could teach her while they were there, she would love to learn magic, and basically going on what Ron and Harry had years ago termed a, 'Hermione melt down'.

Basically it was where she started firing off questions and opinions at 100 miles an hour while barely taking a pause to breathe.

Harry leaned over Sirius to whisper in _Harry's_ ear that he would get used to it, it happened all time. Meanwhile, Hermione was asking Ron (and Draco because he happened to be close enough to hear her question) if she did this all the time, and if this was how him and Harry felt when she went off. Ron just mutely nodded his head, all while slapping a hand over _Ron_ 's mouth to keep him from making a dumb comment that would greatly offend _Hermione_ and ruin any chances his younger self had of being friends with her.

Finally, Harry had enough, and with a look at Ron, the two of them started the well practiced and perfected art of derailing a _Hermione_ on a roll.

" _Hermione,_ I know you want to know everything, but we will have plenty of time after this book for you to ask the professors whatever you want, if we can just finish this book first?" Harry asked. Hermione started as she recognized this as something her boys used on her all the time. Ron just glanced at her and grinned.

The professors, though, all turned to glare at Harry, they did NOT want to deal with a questioning _Hermione_ later on! Dealing with her at that age once was bad enough, they really hadn't realized how much she calmed down over the years.

She quieted down, though. Something most of the adults found to be amazing, and when they asked Harry how he did that, he just shrugged and said, 'practice'. Draco looked at the male Trio members in amazement. And here he thought dealing with Pansy hanging off his arm all day everyday was bad.

 **Chapter four: The Keeper of the Keys**

 _Hermione_ started when she heard the book start reading itself, her logical mind still trying to tell her none of this was possible and she was imagining the whole thing.

Harry noticed her look and just grinned.

 **(Boom. They knocked...** **he said stupidly.)**

Dudley groaned. He did not appreciate seeing himself in this light. He didn't like everyone else seeing him in this light either come to think of it...

 **(There was a crash... rifle in his hands-)**

"WHAT! How could you have something like that around two kids?!" _Hermione_ screeched, outraged that an adult could be this irresponsible.

"I'm more concerned about where it came from and how on earth he got it, actually." Harry said slowly. "I didn't even think about it at the time, I was more concerned with our visitor, but now that I think about it... aren't all firearms illegal in Britain?* If I remember right, only a few types of pistols are allowed, and that's only with a special license. Rifles aren't sold, at least not in shops up front and legally. So where on earth did you get a rifle? For that matter, since when did you know how to use one?" He asked his uncle. Vernon just glared at him, stewing at the Freak asking him about the legalities of some of his actions.

Moody narrowed his eye, if that was true, then this Muggle probably broke several laws just in having that, too bad the younger one wouldn't have actually done it when they got out of here, oh well, he would be nailed enough with the charges of child abuse and neglect. But, this was enough for him to have him investigated for anything else the Muggle authorities might be interested in.

"Hold up a moment, what's a rifle and why are they illegal to have?" Draco asked. He was a pureblood, he knew nothing about Muggles.

Before _Hermione_ could get into how dangerous guns were and give entirely the wrong impression of Muggles to the Death Eaters in the room, Harry had the room conjure up a rifle and a target, put a spell around Remus and Sirius's ears so they didn't go deaf, and shot it, hitting a perfect target, unfazed by the recoil.

He then turned to Draco, who was staring at the gaping hole in the target, which happened to have the shape of a person drawn on it, Harry had shot it right where the heart would be on a normal person.

"Now," He said, getting everyone's attention on him and not the target he just killed, "imagine if this," holding up the rifle, "Were in the hands of a criminal or some other irresponsible person who has no business carrying one, and imagine if that target had been a real person." Those who didn't know what a rifle was before this looked back at the target wide-eyed. Muggles were capable of things like this? "They were banned because they are extremely dangerous in the wrong hands. However, the problem with them being banned, is that the criminals still have their ways of getting them, they aren't going to let a law written on a piece of paper tell them if they can or can't have a gun. Their inability to follow laws is kind of what makes them criminals. However, what does this mean for the law abiding citizens?"

Realization dawned on a few faces as they realized what Harry was getting at, "It leaves the law abiding citizens defenseless while the criminals are armed." _Draco_ said.

Draco added, "It would be the equivalent of letting the Death Eaters run around with wands while everyone else's get snapped."

Both Harry's nodded. A few of the others looked outraged.

"I'm not saying gun laws are bad, they do need to be regulated to a point, but... it kind of defeats the purpose when the bad guys are the only ones armed and the innocents are left defenseless." _Harry_ said.

"How on earth do you know how to use that thing?" Dudley asked. He didn't remember his cousin ever touching a gun before, let alone actually firing one, and with such perfect aim, too. Assuming, of course, that he had actually been aiming for the heart area.

A few others glanced over at Harry sharply, that was a good question, especially since he just got done talking about how illegal it was to have one of those.

"Umm, I'm kind of specially licensed and trained to carry all kinds of firearms. Don't ask me how or when, just know I went through legal channels." He glanced around and noticed _Hermione_ looking frustrated about something. His Hermione, though, looked like she couldn't really care less. Then again, they had already had the argument about how dangerous guns were, let's just say, it was one of the few and only arguments he had ever won. " _Hermione_ , its not the gun itself that will kill you, it's the person pulling the trigger. There is absolutely nothing wrong with guns themselves, just in some of the people that carry them. Besides, the Americans did a study or something, statistically, you are more likely to be stabbed or beaten than you ever will be shot. You don't see them banning knives, do you? For that matter, hammers were the most common cause of death than I think knives and guns combined, and yet..." He watched her, waiting for her to cave, and he grinned triumphantly when she gave a tiny nod, showing that she understood.

He understood though, a lot of beliefs were going to be challenged in the next few days.

Moody looked at him calculatingly, probably thinking that he would make the perfect Auror. He seemed to understand both sides of a story.

 **(now they knew...** **pause. Then-**

 **SMASH!)**

A few people looked at the book oddly, some jumped, they hadn't expected it to produce the sound of a smashing door. Harry cocked his head, wondering if that was part of the magic already in the books and the room, or if it was part of his charm... He glanced at Flitwick, who was looking at the book the book as strangely as everyone else.

Nobody saw _Harry_ carefully tucking Harry's wand back in his pocket. Well, Harry noticed when he felt a hand slipping it back in his pocket, but he didn't say anything. He just glanced at the boy and raised an eyebrow, getting a grin.

He rolled his eyes, Hermione would have a field day if she knew what his _younger self that had yet to go to Hogwarts at all_ had just done.

Especially since it would point her straight to the fact that he'd been downplaying his abilities all this time so that his relationship with her and Ron would be smoother sailing. That, and, he kind of had it ingrained in him to downplay just how smart he really was from his time at the Dursleys. Snape especially would have a fit.

Speaking of Snape, he had noticed something odd when Draco jumped. Namely, that he was still 'jumpy', almost like... Everyone jumped again when Snape suddenly growled, and practically shoved a potion down Draco's throat. Nobody missed Draco's sigh of relief as the potion took affect.

"When did that happen?" Snape growled.

Draco grimaced. "The Dark Lord informed us before he went on his trip that we weren't to bother him unless we had Potter." Snape nodded, he knew that. "So, when Aunt Bella summoned him, he came to our Manor expecting to find Potter in the cellars. Only, Potter escaped seconds after Aunt Bella summoned him."

Snape shot a dark look at Harry, even though he couldn't really blame the boy for not worrying or caring about what would happen to his captors after his escape.

Harry looked uncomfortable. "Ummm..."

Draco snorted, "Don't worry about it, I don't blame you considering what Aunt Bella was doing to Granger, if you didn't escape the cellar when you did, Aunt Bella was seconds away from killing her. Although... did you really have to kill Pettigrew? The Dark Lord was especially not happy about losing his rat for some reason."

Harry and Ron shrugged. "Technically, it was Moldyshorts own _gift_ that killed him. Besides, he betrayed my parents, then he tried to kill my friends, he helped Moldyshorts come back... And I'm claiming self-defense since he was trying very hard to kill me at the time."

Some of the adults looked a little disturbed at his nonchalant attitude, while _Hermione_ looked terrified to be in the same room as a killer, even more terrified at the fact they just said her older self was seconds away from being killed. Moody just narrowed his eyes at Snape and Draco, and Remus and Sirius looked like they were going to cry in joy at hearing that the rat was dead.

Pretty much all of there younger selves were terrified at how close they were to dying, and he made it sound like it happened every day.

 **(The door was hit... flat on the floor.)**

Sirius jumped and grabbed both boys, clutching them like his life depended on it. He didn't think his heart could handle it until he found out who it was breaking in.

 **(A giant of a man... under all the hair.)**

Sirius went completely still, staring at Hagrid. Harry glanced at him, worried.

"Sirius?" He asked, poking his godfather in the side. Sirius started laughing, causing everyone to turn to stare, making the Draco's and Snape start muttering about madmen.

It took him a while to calm down enough to berate Hagrid about scaring his godson (and him, but he wasn't about to say that out loud) like that.

 **(The giant squeezed...** **an easy journey...")**

A few people chuckled and turned to glance at Hagrid, only him.

 **(He strode over to...** **behind Uncle Vernon.)**

"How did you...?" Bill started to ask Dudley, eyeing the size difference between _Dudley_ and his mother.

"I didn't."

 **("An' here's Harry!"...** **crinkled in a smile.)**

"It's good that all you need is a short conversation and then his size and appearance don't seem to matter anymore." Luna murmured.

A few nodded in agreement. Hagrid did look scary at first, but once you took a couple of minutes to look past that, he was like a giant teddy bear.

 **("Las' time I saw... got yer mom's eyes.")**

"Really?!" _Harry_ said, bouncing a little in his seat in excitement. He had yet to see a picture, despite all the stories he'd heard in the past couple of days.

While the adults exchanged looks and glared at the Dursley's, Harry grinned and pulled out his photo-album that Hagrid gave him, all the ten to eleven year olds crowded around to see.

The went through it while the book continued.

 **(Uncle Vernon...** **breaking and entering!")**

"What did he hope to accomplish? Obviously if Hagrid knew Mr. and Mrs. Potter, then he's one of 'our crowd', did he really expect Hagrid to apologize and leave, after all the trouble they went through to reach Potter in the first place? Honestly." Draco, surprisingly enough, said.

The Trio had the thought that they just might have been able to get along with this Draco, even if they didn't get along with the one who was trying so hard to please his father and despite the fact that Draco was Marked... But then again, inside this room that didn't really matter.

They were all so tired of fighting, which was mostly why everybody was leaving Snape alone right now.

 **("Ah, shut up... corner of the room.)**

A few people whistled. "That was solid metal." Somebody whispered. Harry thought it might have been _Hermione_.

Speaking of, it looked like the kids had reached the part of his album where he had pictures of the Trio, a few of the Weasley's, Hogwarts, the Quidditch team, the D.A., but most of them were the Trio.

He glanced over at the mini-Trio, they were staring at a picture from fourth year. It was taken during the snowball fight before the Yule Ball, in the picture, Ron and Harry were sneaking up on Hermione while one of the twins kept her distracted. They then dumped snow down her back, before the picture began its repeat.

The picture right next to that one in the book showed a laughing Ron and Harry running from a laughing and yelling Hermione as she tried to get snow down THEIR backs.

Harry sucked in a breath, "I forgot about that. May I...?" he asked _Harry_ , reaching for his album.

"Ron, 'Mione, remember this?"

They leaned over to look, and exclaimed that they remembered that, Hermione proudly stated that she BURIED the boys once she finally caught them. Both Harry and Ron shivered being reminded, that had been cold.

 **(Uncle Vernon made...** **it'll taste all right.")**

"Um, Harry..." Hermione started. Everyone else who'd ever had Hagrid's cooking was wondering too, did Harry actually eat that?

"It was actually really good." Harry said, to everybodies disbelief.

"I got a House-Elf ter help." Hagrid said. He knew he was a horrible cook, he also knew that nobody said anything because they didn't want to hurt him, instead they pretended to eat it and like it. They just enjoyed getting together and chatting.

 **(From an inside pocket... it in green icing.)**

"What's with everyone and green right now?" _Harry_ muttered.

"Well, the letters are always written in green because that's Professor McGonagall's favorite color and she's in charge of getting those out. As for the green icing, Hagrid did it because my eyes are green." Harry said.

He laughed when people turned to look at him funny.

"When did you become so observant?" Draco asked.

Neville answered, "He's like me, is used to sitting in the shadows and watching. You'd be amazed what you see when people don't realize your there."

"True." Snape said.

Harry grinned. "By the time first year was over, I had enough dirt on pretty much everybody to put them all in debt to me for life and then some." He grinned suddenly. "I got some pretty good stuff on you, too, Malfoy." Draco thought for a minute about what Harry could possibly have on him, both him and _Draco_ realized it at the same time.

"YOU WILL NEVER SPEAK A WORD OF THAT TO ANYONE!" They both yelled. Harry and Neville just smirked. Because Neville knew it too.

"Anyway, the only person I could never really figure out was Professor Snape, but I was also trying to avoid him because I thought he was trying to kill me, so..."

Ron and Hermione just stared at him, not even they knew about this.

 _Harry_ suddenly hissed out, " ** _What do you have on Draco?"_**

 ** _"_ _He_ _has this little stuffed dragon he slept with every night, named Puffles."_**

When _Harry_ started laughing hysterically, Draco turned to Harry, "WHAT DID YOU JUST TELL HIM?!"

"About Puffles."

"No, why would you do that?!" Both Draco's yelled, falling dramatically onto the couch. Snape shook his head. Harry smirked again.

The teachers always knew that it was next to impossible to keep anything secret from the Trio, now they had more of an idea why. Harry was apparently very observant and sneaky, while Hermione was persistent enough not to stop looking until she had every answer to every question in the universe.

 **(Harry looked up at...** **Harry's whole arm.)**

"Uh, sorry." Hagrid said, slightly embarrassed.

Everyone else who had ever experienced Hagrid's handshake's just laughed and waved him off. They knew he couldn't really help it, it was just his size and strength.

 **("What about that... yeh've got it, mind.")**

"Hagrid." Molly groaned. She would never understand how people could be so irresponsible as to drink in front of children. Something like a special occasion, or a toast, fine. But to her it was just irresponsible to do any other time. Some people, the alcohol affected them and made them act in ways they never would normally. She had seen it happen before, the most gentle person in the world would get drunk and suddenly he would be the most violent person she had ever seen. That was just not something she felt children needed to be around.

"I was just joking." Hagrid muttered.

Harry smiled at him across the room and made a sign with his hand that he taught Hagrid. It meant 'We love you anyway.' Hermione had started it sometime in second year, when all that stuff with the Heir of Slytherin was going on and Harry was being shunned by the whole school.

Hagrid grinned back.

 **(His eyes fell on...** **starting to make tea.)**

A few people's jaws dropped. They knew Hagrid kept a lot of stuff in his pockets, some it kind of strange, but...

"Was that meat still good? How long was it even in there?" Hermione asked slowly, like she was afraid of the answers.

"It's fine, 'Mione, apparently Hagrid is well liked by the House-Elves, they charmed all his pockets so that nothing will spoil in them, no matter how long they are in there."

Hagrid nodded proudly at that. "'Elped a few of them out, they were lookin' for work an' I directed 'em ter Hogwarts."

Molly's eyes narrowed. "Just what was in that bottle you drank from? In front of an impressionable 11 year old?"

"It was jus' Butterbeer." Hagrid muttered. Molly looked happier at that.

 **(Soon the hut was... he gives you, Dudley.")**

A few wizards gave the Dursley's dark looks. Honestly, denying a boy food just because of who provided it.

 **(The giant chuckled...** **Dursley, don' worry.")**

Now Hagrid was the one getting looks. Sure, Dudley didn't need any more fat to carry around, and sure he was in better shape than Harry since all that fat meant that his body could keep going for longer, but to not give him anything at all, didn't really seem like Hagrid at all.

Hagrid just nervously fiddled with his coat sleeves.

 **(He passed the sausages... anything so wonderful)**

"You are far too trusting of complete stranger, lad." Moody said, disapprovingly. "But, I guess it has been a while since you had decent food... don't let me catch you doing that again!" He suddenly barked.

Both Harry's, well, _Harry_ jumped, Harry just kind of twitched towards the pocket he kept his wand in. Moody nodded in approval at Harry's reaction. Before frowning at seeing the pocket.

Next thing everybody knew, a small pile of wand holsters fell in front of the Trio, and Moody was barking at them to choose one.

Harry chose one decorated with a Hungarian Horntail, and was told by Charlie that it was actually made from Horntail hide, Hermione grabbed the one made from Welsh Green, and Ron got the one made from Norwegian Ridgeback. _Draco_ grabbed one made out of Chinese Fire-bolt. Draco already had one, his had been a 'present' from the Dark Lord for his part in Dumbledore's death.

A note dropped down stating that the younger ones could take anything they received in the Room with them when they went to their own time. With the exception of anything the olders had brought into the room with them.

 _Harry_ cheered, he liked the holster his older self picked out.

That explained to Moody how he was going to be able to take his lists with him, he had been wondering about that. Snape heard that and started writing a letter to his younger self to have _Draco_ give to him.

Ollivander looked up suddenly, "Mr. Black, your wand was snapped, was it not?" When Sirius nodded, a pile appeared in front of him, a pile of everything a wand-maker would need to make a wand. "Come here, choose a wand wood and core."

When Sirius did so, Ollivander just hummed and took the materials that were chosen without saying anything and started working. "When we are finished with these books, all you have to do is give this to either Alastor or your godson and they can give it to you once you finally get out. You might want to grab a new holster to go with your new wand."

Sirius nodded and grabbed a holster from the pile that he was told was made of Hungarian Horntail like Harry's.

 **(but he still couldn't... who you are.")**

"Considering your relatives behave like pigs, I'm kind of surprised your manners are as good as they are." Professor Sprout spoke up, startling everyone who had forgotten the motherly witch was there.

For some reason Harry and Hagrid found the pig comment highly amusing while the older Dursley set got even angrier.

"Er, I watched them and decided I didn't want to be anything like them, so everything I saw them do, I decided I would do the complete opposite. They didn't apologize for something, I would apologize, they demanded, I would ask." _Harry_ said, shrugging.

The women frowned. Usually children learned what to do by copying their parents, not doing the complete opposite in order to know what to do.

 **(The giant took a gulp...** **about Hogwarts, o' course.")**

A few people raised an eyebrow at him. "Albus told me he grew up happy and knowing about magic." He said. "I had no reason ter doubt him."

Now people turned to glare at Dumbledore, who was starting to worry. He knew that, yes, he probably didn't make the best decision in just leaving Harry there, but the Blood Wards were protecting him! But now even Hagrid, the most loyal person on earth was starting to doubt his loyalties to him.

Although, this was the future Hagrid, once they were out of this room, he would still have his _Hagrid_...

 **("Er- no," said Harry...** **Harry said quickly.)**

"You apologize a lot, don't you?" Draco muttered.

Both Harry's shrugged. "It makes life easier." they both said.

 _ **("Sorry?"**_ **barked Hagrid,... learned it all?")**

"Does anyone else sense an explosion coming up?" Luna asked.

Every hand went up, then people turned to either Hagrid or Harry. Both of them shrugged, not wanted to give anything away. Dudley's hands went to rub his rear, remembering just what this explosion led to. His older parents started glaring at Hagrid, but didn't dare do anything when they noticed Harry playing with his wand again.

 **("All what?"... Hagrid thundered.)**

"This is going to be a very loud conversation, isn't it?" Remus muttered, rubbing his ear and glaring at the book that was taking it upon itself to thunder just like Hagrid did.

 _Harry_ patted his back while Sirius grimly nodded in agreement. He too was rubbing his ear. McGonagall, too, looked like if she were a cat, her ears would be plastered to her head.

 **("Now wait jus'... abou'- about ANYTHING?")**

"Hagrid, I think you just called Harry stupid." Hermione said, looking amused.

"Yeah, and we all know Harry is one of the smartest people in the school, even if he doesn't always do the best on his schoolwork. And yes, I will readily admit that I didn't exactly do the best on my schoolwork either." Ron said.

Both Harry's looked startled, especially the older one, they noticed? Why didn't they say anything? _Ron_ and _Hermione_ looked at _Harry,_ considering. Their older selves certainly seemed close...

Hagrid looked sheepish, "I didn't mean it like tha'."

Harry smiled. "I know, Hagrid, it's fine."

The teachers looked scandalized, but then they looked at the Dursley's, and they understood.

Harry was taught from day one not to show his intelligence. If he did, it meant punishment, probably in the form of no food and days locked in that tiny cupboard.

 **(Harry thought this... marks weren't bad)**

"I thought your marks had to be worse than Dudley's" _Hermione_ said.

Harry grinned. "They were.. The ones the Dursley's saw, anyway."

 _Harry_ chimed in and continued. "I have an... agreement, with the principal. On days when I can escape _Dudley's_ gang, I go to his office and complete my homework assignments or take the tests, away from the classroom and teachers my aunt and uncle biased against me. He sets those scores aside and waits until report cards go out at the end of the year before he goes into my file and fixes them to show my real grades."

Everyone stared at the two like they had two heads.

"If he knows that something isn't right with your relatives, then why hasn't he tried to get you removed from that house?" Molly asked, angry at the principal for not doing more.

"Because the last teacher that tried to help me was fired before anything could be done." _Harry_ said blankly. Nobody saw Remus start to turn red.

"Uncle Vernon complained about Mr. Lupin and the nature of the complaints resulted in his immediate dismissal, and the authorities being notified. I don't know what happened to him after that." Harry added. People were now looking at Remus funny. He was blushing hard, he remembered that.

"It's a good thing there was absolutely no evidence, only the complaints of one man, or I would have had to fight my way out with obliviations, as it was, I had to renew my teaching license under a new name and glamours." Remus said, trying to ignore Sirius's laughter. As happy as he was that Sirius was laughing... he didn't think that accusations like that were something to laugh at.

"THAT WAS YOU?!" Vernon yelled. He was disgusted that his boy had a freak for a teacher, who knew what the freak taught him?

"SHUT UP DAD! Mr. Lupin was the best teacher I had, the teacher they brought in to replace him was awful." Dudley yelled back.

 _Harry_ nodded, "The new guy was a complete jerk, he made up stuff we did wrong, blatantly favored Dudley, and gave completely stupid punishments, and then he didn't even teach us anything!"

Hermione frowned. "If he favored you so much, then why do you not like him?"

All four boys shuddered. "Because Uncle Vernon should have filed those complaints against him, instead of Uncle Moony." All the adults looked at the Dudley's in alarm. "He didn't actually do anything, he just made a lot of inappropriate comments and gestures to me." Dudley explained. The Dursley's looked alarmed. They were torn between their horror at having a Freak teach their son, and their horror that a pedophile was the one to replace the Freak.

"Yes, Dursley, that was me, and quite frankly sir, I was appalled at the treatment the other children received at the hands of your son, and the lies you tried to convince me of in regards to Harry. By the way Harry, why didn't you say anything on the train your third year?" He asked, smiling at Harry and completely ignoring Vernon, who was now yelling soundlessly, who knew who was the one to fire off the silencing charm. For now he chose to ignore what the boys said about his replacement and come to that again later.

Harry shrugged. "Because I didn't make the connection until later, and then you didn't say anything, so I didn't say anything. That, and I was a little surprised to see you teaching, at a magic school and clearly a wizard, not in jail, and teaching kids again." He said.

Remus nodded, he had a point there.

 **("I know _some_ things,"... about to explode.)**

"Here it comes." Remus muttered.

 **("DURSLEY!" he boomed... _famous._ You're _famous_.")**

"And here is where I learned the truth, finally. I really hate my fame." Harry muttered. _Ron_ heard and looked at him, shocked. He looked at _Harry_ and saw him nodding, saying that he was not looking forward to that part of re-entering the wizarding world.

 **("What? My- my mom and dad weren't famous, were they?")**

"Really, that's the part you get stuck on?" Draco asked, incredulous.

Both Harry's just shrugged. They weren't used to attention, how else were they supposed to react when they are suddenly faced with the prospect of attention from the whole population of a secret society?

 _Ron_ glanced at his older self, Ron caught his look and nodded, confirming what he said earlier, that _Harry_ didn't need or want fame, or hero worship. He just needed and wanted a friend.

 **("Yeh don' know... a bewildered stare.)**

Hagrid winced, "I really wasn't expectin' ter have ter be the one ter tell yeh."

Harry smiled at him. "You did your best explaining. You told me what you knew."

 **("Yeh don' know...** **tell the boy anything!")**

Everyone snorted. As if that would stop Hagrid.

 **(A braver man than...** **him all these years?")**

"Did you really not see the day coming when we would send someone to get him? If you actually read that letter, then you would know that there was no way Savior Potter wasn't coming to Hogwarts." _Draco_ said. He couldn't understand how somebody could be that deluded.

"The letter never said anything about Harry's fame, I wanted him to have a normal childhood without knowing about it." Dumbledore said softly. This only earned him a few glares. Clearly his childhood was not normal.

 **("Kept _what_ from me?"...** **gave a gasp of horror.)**

Snape sighed, "Always so dramatic, Tuney."

Both Petunia's growled at him, he ignored them.

 **("Ah, go boil yer heads, both of yeh," said Hagrid. "Harry- yer a wizard.")**

Hermione blinked. "That was... anticlimactic." Harry and Hagrid just shrugged.

Hagrid would be the first to admit that it would have been best for Minerva or even Severus to be the one to go give Harry his letter. He was really not qualified to introduce a child to the Wizarding world for the first time.

 **(There was silence...** **a _what_?" gasped Harry.)**

Hermione snorted. "Nice reaction, Har'. If I remember right, didn't my parents and I try to call the police on you, Professor?" Hermione asked McGonagall.

McGonagall snorted, "You did, the whole time your parents were yelling about me being an insane drug addict who needed to stay away from their daughter." She said dryly.

Hermione blushed. "Did I ever apologize to you for that?"

"No need, dear, I get that all the time."

The whole conversation, everyone in the room was staring between Hermione and her Head of House.

 **"A wizard, o' course,"... yeh read yer letter.")**

"FINALLY!" Everyone yelled. They were getting a little tired of all this run-around by his relatives.

 **(Harry stretched out...** **they await my owl?")**

"That's your first question? Seriously?" Hermione asked. "You saw about how I reacted, and you heard about how my parents reacted, and all you do is ask what they mean by 'awaiting your owl'." Her voice got progressively higher as she ranted.

Finally, two hands reached out and slapped across her mouth. "Yes, Hermione, that is really how I reacted. Now, if your voice gets any higher you are going to blow out Remus and Sirius's eardrums." Harry said calmly from across the room.

Her eyes widened as she looked at the canines to see that they were slowly lowering their hands from their ears, and their faces were full of relief that she had stopped yelling. She nodded and _Ron_ and _Harry_ slowly pulled their hands away. Looking over, she saw that _Harry_ was also pulling his hand away from _Hermione_ 's mouth from where he had leaned over the back of the couch.

His job done, he walked back to his seat beside Sirius, where he burrowed back into his blanket Sirius summoned for him earlier and leaned against him.

 **("Gallopin' Gorgons, that... could read upside down:)**

Everyone who had ever tried to read Hagrid's handwriting stared at Harry for a bit. "Impressive, Mr. Potter. Hagrid's handwriting is often too difficult for us to read right-side up." Snape said, with his eyebrow raised. "Perhaps, we should offer you a job just for the purpose of reading Hagrid's notes to the rest of the staff."

Everyone gaped. Had Severus 'I Hate all Things Potter' Snape just offered Harry Potter a job?

"What are you all looking at?" He sneered. "Well, Mr. Potter?"

"Um, no thank you... um, I'm good." Harry said, glancing at Hagrid. The Draco's were shaking, trying not to laugh at the looks on everybodies faces. The only thing stopping them was their godfather's hand on their knee.

"I'm surprised you aren't saying anything about that owl, Charlie." Bill said suddenly.

"Hm? Oh, I helped Hagrid charm that pocket to make it a nice little owl den. It's actually kind of comfortable in there. I would imagine that the reason the owl looked ruffled was because it was probably in the middle of a nap." The Weasley's nodded in understanding.

 _ **(Dear Professor Dumbledore,..**_ ** _. Hope you're well._**

 ** _Hagrid)_**

"Short, sweet, and to the point." Hermione said.

"What?" Draco asked.

"It's a Muggle saying." _Harry_ said. "Basically, it's just a comment on how whoever is talking or writing got to the point and didn't dance around it."

Both Draco's nodded.

 **(Hagrid rolled up the...** **and closed it quickly.)**

A few people chuckled. Yeah, they supposed that could look a little strange to people not used to it. Harry suddenly missed Hedwig.

 **("Where was I?" said...** **going," he said.)**

People groaned, "I will give you this, Dursley, you are persistent." Moody said absently. He snorted. "Even if you need to learn to choose your battles better."

 **(Hagrid grunted.** **"I'd like...** **Muggles I ever laid eyes on.")**

"Literally, and figuratively. They are huge physically, and their egos are the size of China." Flitwick said cheerfully. The Dursley's glared.

"Why haven't they said anything in awhile?" _Hermione_ asked suddenly.

"Silencing charm. After Dudley yelled at Uncle Vernon to shut up, I guess the room took him literally and silenced all of them." Harry said absently. He was playing with the edge of his blanket and trying to remember where in the conversation with Hagrid his aunt had her blow up.

"How do you know that, Potter?" Draco asked.

"I felt the room do it." He shrugged. "I've always been able to feel magic to an extent. At Hogwarts, the castle herself shields me from it because the first time I stepped foot in there, it was like sensory overload. I got used to it over time, but..." He shrugged again.

"It has come in handy the past year." Hermione added in.

 **("We swore when... of him! Wizard indeed!")**

Another tornado went through the room as Snape and Dumbledore lost control of their magic for a moment again.

"Yes, Mr. Dursley. 'Wizard indeed.'" Snape snarled. Emphasizing the word wizard.

 **("You _knew_?" said...** **Aunt Petunia suddenly.)**

"And here we go," Harry muttered. He quickly threw up shielding spells around his aunt. Both of them, then he burrowed deeper into his godfathers side than should have been possible, much to the man's concern.

 **(" _Knew!_ Of course... a witch in the family!")**

The longer her rant went on, the angrier and angrier the wizards in the room became. Sirius held his godsons closer than should be possible when they both started to shake slightly, the shaking grew stronger when Petunia started calling her sister a Freak. Snape's face went white with fury. Petunia's rant showed him that she only got worse over the years.

He glanced at Potter and went back to writing his letter to his younger self. He was going to make it very clear to his younger self the mistake he made in regards to Harry Potter. At this point, the only thing that made Potter's childhood better than his own was the fact that Potter's relatives weren't physical. 'At least, I hope not.' He thought, thinking back to the bruise balm he tossed the boy yesterday.

 **(She stopped to draw... say all this for years.)**

"She was." Snape said absently as he wrote. Hopefully his younger self would follow his letter and pay Petunia Dursley a little visit. _Potter_ may or may not yet be out of the house when his younger self got there. It depended on how long it took Moody to get there, and that depended on whether or not Dumbledore tried to stop him from removing the boy from the _loving care_ of his relatives.

 **("Then she met that... got landed with you!")**

There was a second of silence before Molly and McGonagall exploded. Everyone else just stared at the boys huddled into their godfather's side while their godfather whispered something into both of their ears. Finally, he got up and half-carried the boys out of the room while the witches unloaded on the Dursley's and Dumbledore.

Snape and Moody were both scribbling fiercely, the Draco's had their heads together and were whispering together, the Twins were plotting with Remus, Hermione was staring at the door Sirius took the boys through with tears in her eyes. She didn't let them fall though, she knew that Harry would only shy away, he hated anything he saw as pity or sympathy. _Ron_ and _Hermione_ were staring at the Dursley's in horror.

 _Ron_ was horrified because this was his hero. His hero who he'd always grown up believing lived in a golden palace, who was super powerful, and spent his days finding and defeating evil forces. To hear that he was hated at home and he hadn't even known... what his older self had told him was finally starting to sink in. _Harry_ didn't need a fan or to be placed on a pedestal. He needed a friend.

 _Hermione_ was horrified because she couldn't believe somebody could be this hateful towards family. She had grown up very protected, and maybe a little naive. Sure, she never had friends in school because of her intelligence, but families loved each other. She had always been loved, her mother never even fought with her sister (that she saw, anyway), she just couldn't comprehend a family that didn't love each other.

Ron shook his head after staring at the wall for a moment and started plotting with Neville and Luna.

Finally, the witches calmed down and Sirius led the boys back into the room, both of them avoiding looking at anybody. Sirius sat them down and wrapped them back up in their blankets before handing them their stags back and sitting back between them, both of them leaning back into him.

Ron glared at Draco for a moment, daring him to say anything, while _Ron_ did the same with _Dudley_ , who was actually opening his mouth to say something.

 **(Harry had gone very white.)**

"Fer a second there, I thought he'd turned into one o' the 'ogwarts Ghosts." Hagrid said sadly.

 **(As soon as he... in a car crash!")**

Sirius tightened his grip on the boys even as he growled at the Dursley's. There was another outbreak of muttering from the witches, they didn't react too much this time though since _Harry_ had already let this lie slip earlier.

 **("CAR CRASH!" roared... knows his name!")**

Both Harry's suddenly growled and Harry started muttering something about cake molds. _Harry_ nodded in agreement with whatever it was Harry was talking about.

 **("But why? What happened?"...** **Hogwarts not knowin'.")**

"The Slytherin's in particular would have torn you apart if they thought you didn't even know."

"Either that, or who knows what versions of the story the other students would have filled your head with. With all those Harry Potter's Adventure books out there?"

"Harry Potter's Adventure books?" Harry asked, looking like he really didn't want to know.

"Yup, books have been written about various adventures you've been on... I think in one you are hunting down and killing werewolves, in another it's vampire's..." _Ron_ said, ticking them off on his fingers as he named all the adventures Harry was rumored to have gone on. Both Harry's stared at him in horror as he just continued listing them.

Finally, Draco cut him off, "You mean, you never knew about these books? You never saw them in Flourish and Blotts?"

"Er, I've only been in Flourish and Blotts twice... first year with Hagrid, and third year after I ran away... Second year doesn't count because I couldn't see the bookshelves through all the Lockhart fans, and then that whole thing happened between your dad and Mr. Weasley..." Harry trailed off. "I am surprised I didn't have a bunch of people coming up to have me sign one or something."

Neville and the twins turned to raise an eyebrow at Ron who coughed, his ears red with embarrassment. Neither Harry noticed though. Everyone else did.

Now, Draco wondered how on earth Harry didn't know Ron had been keeping all those fans away, when he knew about Puffles.

 **(He threw a dirty...** **myst'ry, parts of it...")**

"Not really." Harry muttered.

 **(He sat down, stared...** **help it. No one does.")**

Harry groaned and shook his head, muttering about idiots scared of a name.

 **("Why not?"** **"Gulpin'..** **. All right- _Voldemort._ ")**

People turned to gape at Harry. "You got him to say it." Remus asked in a hushed whisper. Harry smirked and nodded.

Hagrid winced, it wasn't so much that he was afraid of him, it was more to do with the fact that the man was the reason he was expelled, the name held bad memories hearing it brought them up.

Harry turned to him and signed that it was alright, they would get him. Ron and Hermione smiled at him and signed their agreement.

Harry was really glad Hermione made him and Ron learn sign language during second year before she got petrified. He was also really glad that they took the time to teach Hagrid.

 **(Hagrid shuddered. "Don'...** **do with the Dark Side.)**

"No they wouldn't." Sirius said fiercely. Snape scowled, that was why he lost his friendship with Lily, him yelling at her like that at the end of fifth year was just the last straw in a long line of offenses. The problem was, his magic itself just naturally leaned towards the Dark, she just hadn't been able to understand that.

 **("Maybe he thought he could persuade 'em... maybe he just wanted 'em outta the way.)**

"Yeah, except he wasn't after them. He was after me." Harry said quietly. Then he started muttering about prophesies.

 **(All anyone knows...** **a sound like a foghorn.)**

Everyone jumped when the book made a noise like a foghorn. The Trio had their wands out and were trying to find the threat, only to find none. They slowly sat back down to Moody's approving nod. Harry burrowed back into his blanket.

 **("Sorry,' he said. "But...** **myst'ry of the thing)**

"Wasn't a mystery." Harry muttered.

 **(- he tried to kill you... a baby, an' you lived.")**

Sirius breathed out shakily and ran a shaking hand through his hair at the mention of the Mckinnons. When Harry looked at him curiously, "Marlene Mckinnon and I were engaged. She was killed only a week before our wedding. Her and our unborn child." Both Harry's had their arms around him and were hugging hard, Remus reached over and clapped him on the shoulder and squeezed. Snape looked a little uncomfortable.

"We lost a lot of good people back then. Your Marlene, my brothers Fabian and Gideon, Amelia's brother and his wife, James, Lily, so many more that I lost count... and more since he came back a couple years ago." Molly said, doing her best not to look at Sirius, Moody, or Dumbledore when she said that. Although Sirius figured it out when he felt Harry's arms and Remus's hand tighten even more when Molly mentioned losing more people.

"We are going to change that. Those people will not going anywhere if Moody and I have anything to say about it." Sirius reassured her, and Harry.

She smiled shakily at him.

 **(Something very painful... high, cold, cruel laugh.)**

"You remember that?" Sprout breathed out, horrified.

Harry nodded, "That used to be all I remembered, until third year, when the Dementor's were set to guard the school. Now, I remember all of. Every word that was spoken that night." Sirius hugged his boys, hard. He couldn't even imagine being able to remember the night your parents died, especially since Lily was killed right in front of him.

All the witches looked at him in horror, and the beginnings of pity in their eyes until they remembered him saying earlier that he didn't want anything to do with their pity.

Draco was horrified, he made fun of his reaction to the Dementor's, when this whole time, he heard his mother dying every time he went near them?

 **(Hagrid was watching...** **yeh ter this lot...")**

"That's not right," Sirius said suddenly. "You took him from me, then I lent you my motorbike to get him to safety while I went after Pettigrew, to ensure he never had the chance to touch Harry again."

Hagrid looked uncomfortable. "I thought yeh were the traitor, I wasn't going ter tell him he had a traitor fer a godfather."

Sirius nodded, he had a feeling it was more like Dumbledore told him not to say anything about Sirius. "I handed him to you thinking you were going to take him to Hogwarts, not leave him with the people his parents specifically said in their wills that he was never to even know they existed. Something you knew, old man. I seem to remember you being one of the witnesses."

"What?" Moody barked. "You didn't mention this before because...?"

"Forgot. You will have to forgive my memory, Alastor, less than 48 hours ago, I was in my cell surrounded by Dementors. They aren't exactly known for promoting good memory and mental health."

Moody went back to scribbling on his parchments like mad. Now that it was mentioned, he had forgotten the Potters even had wills, which was stupid of him considering it was required for all Aurors to have their wills written up and finalized within one week of graduating the academy. He paused. Just how had he forgotten that? He growled and his magical eye pinned itself to Dumbledore while he started scribbling faster.

Was it his imagination, or did Dumbledore go pale at mention of the wills?

 **("Load of old tosh,"... Dursley's were there.)**

So did everyone else in the room.

 **(Uncle Vernon certainly...** **to a sticky end-")**

The room went up into mutinous muttering again. Draco was suddenly reminded of a time when they were younger when he said something very similar to Potter, except he told Potter that he would come to the same sticky end as his parents. No wonder Potter hated him so much in school.

 **(But at that moment,... from inside his coat.)**

Mutterings rose up of, 'do it, do it, do it...'

 **(Pointing this at... you- one more word...")**

Nearly everyone who had been chanting leaned forward on the edge of their seats...

 **(In danger of being speared...** **right down to the floor.)**

Only to slump back in disappointment. They didn't get to see Fat-Muggle-shish-kebab.

 **(Harry, meanwhile, still...** **if he was comin' back.)**

"Except, they weren't really in trances. They lied to get out of being sentenced to Azkaban." Snape said.

 _Hermione_ opened her mouth to say something, "Yes, Miss. Granger, I know it is not right, but that is how politics work. The sooner you figure that out, the longer you will live in this world." Snape snapped. The Rons, the Harry's, and Hermione all turned to glare at him. He waved a hand at the book to suggest they get back to reading.

This conversation was making him edgy for some reason... could it be because he knew the truth? He knew about the soul-piece in Harry's scar, he knew exactly what happened that night, not even Harry knew everything of what happened that night, and he'd been told as much as Dumbledore wanted to tell him until the old coot was killed by him. He resolved to speak with the oldest Weasley boy about possible rituals he might know from his time with Gringotts to get rid of the soul-piece.

 **("Most of us reckon...** **been a horrible mistake.)**

A few eyebrows raised in Harry's direction.

 **(A wizard? Him? How... around like a football?)**

"I'm afraid it doesn't always work like that, pup." Sirius said.

 **("Hagrid," he said quietly,...** **boa constrictor on him?)**

Sirius and Remus frowned. "That is a disturbing lack of magical incidents." Sirius said, Remus nodded beside him.

"Maybe the Dursley's insistence that they was no such thing as magic affected his control over his magic? Like, almost like it... shut itself down, almost, to protect him. Keep him from being punished." Remus said.

Sirius shook his head, his eyebrows furrowed. "I don't know... He was practically constantly doing magic in some for other before That Night... I need to check something." He said as he got up, going over to a corner where a bunch of books appeared. He eyed them with distaste before grabbing one and starting to leaf through it.

Harry could feel the Dark Magic pouring off them in waves. "Siri?" Sirius looked up, "I'll be fine. Just checking something, I hope I'm wrong, though." Then he went back to the book.

Harry looked over at Moody, and saw that his magical eye was trained on Sirius in the corner. "Don't worry about it too much lad, one of the things that made Black so good as an Auror, alongside his amazing fighting skills, was the fact that he grew up learning the Dark Arts on his mothers knee. He may not have liked it, or agreed with hardly any of it, and tried to avoid it like the plague, but he knows it. The Black Family was notorious for their Dark Magic, their library contained some of the Darkest Magics known to wizard kind. If he thinks something is wrong or sounds familiar, and then goes straight to those books... then you can bet he will figure it out and do everything he can to fix it."

Harry frowned, but nodded.

 **(Harry looked back...** **right famous at Hogwarts.")**

Both Harry's sighed again. Hagrid flashed Harry an apologetic grin. Harry just grinned back.

 **(But Uncle Vernon wasn't going to give in without a fight.)**

Moody shook his head and muttered about idiots who didn't know how to choose their battles.

 **("Haven't I told you... books and wands and-")**

"Huh," Harry said, cocking his head to the side. "You know, looking back, I'm really surprised he was able to say those words without choking up." Harry said thoughtfully. "One time, Dudley demanded the salt, so I asked him what the magic word was. If I remember right, didn't you fall off the chair in fear, Dud?" Dudley went red from embarrassment.

By this point, Draco was really wondering how on earth Potter turned out as well as he had. Even he had to admit the boy was a powerful wizard, and his jokes and pranks weren't half bad, at least, not when they were directed at Slytherin...

 **("If he wants ter...** **TRICKS!" yelled Uncle Vernon.)**

"Yes, Yes, YES!" The twins suddenly yelled. Everyone else leaned forward in anticipation. They all knew Vernon had seriously messed. It may or may not be that way anymore, but you did NOT want to insult Dumbledore in front of Hagrid.

 **(But he had finally...** **a hole in his trousers.)**

"YES!" The Weasley boys and Ginny howled. The parents and other teachers looked faintly disapproving, but at the same time accepting. They knew something was going to happen, they knew Hagrid could get like that when it came to protecting people he cared about.

"Oh, Hagrid." McGonagall said, shaking her head, with a faint smile on her face. Everyone easily ignored the Dursleys glaring and silently yelling at Hagrid.

Dudley was rubbing a hand over his bottom and grimacing at the phantom pains while _Dudley_ was looking at Hagrid, scared. Dudley caught his attention, "Don't worry about it, frankly, I think he was really aiming for dad, but he missed." He whispered.

 **(Uncle Vernon roared...** **wasn't much left ter do.")**

A few people looked at Dudley, only to see him shrug in agreement. "Yeah, I guess I did kinda act like a pig a lot, huh?"

 **(He cast a sideways...** **"Why were you expelled?")**

"Good luck getting him to answer, Harry. That is the one secret he will never tell. Believe me, we tried." Remus said.

Harry just smirked at him. "Maybe you tried too hard." He quipped, then the Trio and Hagrid waited.

Remus's jaw dropped. "You know? Did he tell you? How did you find out?"

The Trio grinned, "That's for us to know, and you to find out." They said in unison. Everyone stopped to look at them funny. "That was creepy..." Neville said to Luna.

 **("It's gettin' late... yer books an' that.")**

"Nice subject change, Hagrid." The big man just shrugged.

 **(He took off his...** **one o' the pockets.")**

"That's the end of that chapter." Flitwick said.

"Snape, Bill, come here a moment." Sirius called from his corner. His eyebrows were furrowed and he looked concerned.

"What did you find?" Bill asked. Sirius held up a hand to tell him to wait a minute before he turned to Severus.

"Did Albus ever mention anything about Riddle transferring some of his power to Harry, or did he confide in you about suspicions of a Horcrux?" He demanded.

Snape raised an eyebrow. "He has confided in me that his plan for the final battle is for Potter to play the sacrificial lamb... because of the Horcrux residing in his scar. It is his belief that, if the Dark Lord himself were to be the one to cast the killing curse, then the curse would kill the soul-piece, leaving Potter perfectly intact and in perfect health."

Sirius was white-faced with rage. He had to take a moment to control his temper before he went over and attacked the crazy old man. "There is no guarantee of that happening though, according to all these books," He waved a hand over the books he'd been going over, "It is not possible to place a Horcrux in a living person without the Horcrux taking over. The only theory I can come up with for Harry not being taken over is because Dumbledore also placed a block on his core, to give the Horcrux less to feed off of, less to latch onto."

Bill looked confused. "Why would he do that? The Goblins have rituals that would have gotten rid of the Horcrux in Harry without harming him. It would have also started a search for his other Horcruxes years ago, long before he ever had any chance to come back. If Dumbledore wanted to keep it quiet, I can understand, the goblins would have kept their search quiet no problems. But... he could have stopped all of this before it ever happened."

Snape looked concerned. "Perhaps, Bill, you should write a letter to your younger self, ask him to start looking into the Potter Accounts, make sure they have not been tampered with and that nothing has been taken from them that shouldn't have been."

"Why would Albus have access to Harry's accounts?" Sirius asked.

"Because, Black, Albus placed Potter with the Dursley's, completely against Lily's will, and named himself Potter's magical guardian. Before you were ever arrested and thrown in Azkaban. Now that I think about it... I'm not sure if Potter even knows he has a Family Fortune, or that his family holds a seat on the Wizengamot."

"You think Albus has been helping himself to the Potter accounts and Political might?"

"It's possible. Albus is not the man I thought I knew... there have been many things over the years that have had me wondering. Finding out he could have ended all this before it began, simply by going to the goblins... This is just one more thing to wonder about."

Sirius sighed. "I'll also look into it when I get out of prison... officially get out of prison. For now... can you perform the cleansing rituals Bill?"

Bill shook his head. "No, I know the theory behind them, but they require Goblin magic. Wizards magic just... isn't potent enough. Either we wait until we finish these books and you or Moody can take _Harry_ to the bank and get him checked out, or we ask the room to bring us a few goblins, from either time to perform the ritual."

"I would almost rather wait until we finish the books. I doubt you would mind it, Mr. Weasley, but I, for one, would rather not have to deal with a few goblins the entire time we are stuck here."

Sirius grimaced. "I can't believe I am going to say this. But, I... agree... with Snape on that one. It's nothing against goblins. They just, aren't the friendliest." There was a pause while the other two stared at him, with Snape smirking. He glared.

"Alright, I will continue my letter to my younger self, Mr. Weasley, you write a letter to your younger self, and we will explain to Moody what the plan is, he can add this new thing to investigate to his list or something... For now, we don't say anything. I highly doubt that anyone over there knows what a Horcrux is, beyond Moody, the Trio, and obviously Albus, I don't want to panic someone." Like Molly/mum, all the men thought.

Both of them agreed to the plan, Sirius reluctantly. He still couldn't believe he asked Snape for his input. But, he would do anything for his godson, even pick the brain of his old enemy.

"Figured out what you needed to, boys?" Sprout asked. They all nodded, "Well, then, shall we continue?" She asked, clapping her hands together and turning to reactivate the charm on the book.

 **Chapter five Diagon Alley**

* * *

* This was what really got me, I didn't really think about it first time reading this, but where did he get that rifle? I looked it up, with Britain's gun laws, there is no way he got that legally. Especially in the few hours since he left them locked in the car. Unless I miss read those laws somewhere.


	7. Diagon Alley

I have had people asking me if I could include Tonks in this... I don't think I'm going to. Here's my reasoning. If I were to add Tonks, it would be the older one who is Remus's pregnant wife. His pregnant wife that is only weeks away from giving birth. The Room is in a time-bubble, meaning that outside the room, time is slowed down. I don't know how long I'm going to have them in the Room, but it will probably be long enough for Tonks to have the baby if I were to bring her in. I don't feel like the stress of reading this book would be very healthy, which is the main reason I'm not really going to bring her in. And I don't really want to bring in younger Tonks either.

* * *

 _ **Parselmouth**_

 _"Figured out what you needed to, boys?" Sprout asked. They all nodded, "Well, then, shall we continue?" She asked, clapping her hands together and turning to reactivate the charm on the book._

 _ **Chapter five Diagon Alley**_

Sirius smiled softly, but both he and Remus were trying not to break down in front of the kid who should have been going to the Alley with his parents and them. Because they all knew that Sirius and Remus would have gone along with the Potter's.

Both Harry's found themselves drawn into side-hugs by two slightly emotional canines.

 **(Harry woke early the... home in my cupboard.")**

A few people growled again at the mention of the cupboard, while a few others shook their heads at his usual pessimistic attitude.

"Harry, one of these days you will get it through your head that good things can happen to you. And that those things will stay." Hermione said softly.

Both Harry's looked at her and shrugged.

"I know good things _can_ happen... I have you and Ron don't I? And the rest of the Weasley's. And everyone else." He gestured to the room, at his makeshift family, minus the Dursley's, Snape, and Dumbledore at the moment.

Molly would have burst into tears and run to give him a bone-crushing hug, if it weren't for the fact Sirius still had his arms around Harry, and Harry was currently hiding his bright red face in Sirius's shirt. A few other people were smiling slightly at the teen as well.

 **(There was suddenly... a good dream.)**

"Wow, Potter. Who knew you were such a pessimist." Draco muttered.

Harry shrugged. Ron and Hermione both muttered that he didn't know the half of it.

 **(Tap. Tap. Tap... swelling inside him.)**

"And there's not much your really happy about usually." Ron said, running a hand through his hair with a sigh.

Draco said nothing as Harry shrugged. Because from what he observed, Potter was pretty happy when with the rest of the Trio. Not that he watched the Trio a whole lot at school, but he'd seen Potters face light up whenever the other two entered the Great Hall on the few occasions when both he and Potter happened to be in the Hall early at the same time.

Snape noticed Harry purse his lips like he was going to say something but didn't. Instead he made a few hand-motions that made Ron and Hermione light up.

 **(He went straight... attack Hagrid's coat.)**

Sprout winced, "Yeah, _Prophet_ owls are the most vicious, aside from Gringotts owls. Never try and take a letter from a Gringotts owl that doesn't have your name on it, and pay the _Prophet_ owl as soon as possible." She lectured, she rubbed her hand as she spoke.

Madam Pomfrey nodded. "Those were some nasty gashes they gave you."

 _Harry_ and _Hermione_ looked alarmed. "Don't worry, owls don't attack unless told." Harry said, smiling sadly. He missed his Hedwig.

Before anyone could blink, there was another flash and a hoot, and by the time everyone could see again, with everyone once again up and painting their wands at the disturbance, a beautiful snowy owl was standing on the table, studying the two Harry's.

Ron and Hermione gasped while the rest of the Weasley's looked apprehensive, all of them giving Harry a worried look. Harry himself was looking at the owl with pain written all over his face. Snape watched with a blank look.

After all, he was there, he saw it happen, heard Harry's yells for his owl. He himself had grown fond of the beautiful intelligent owl that used to always visit him when he had a particularly hard day. His fondness stayed even after he learned she belonged to Potter.

The owl hooted again before flying to Harry's shoulder to nip his ear before going to perch on _Harry's_ shoulder.

Harry closed his eyes in pain for a moment before he swallowed and opened them again. When he spoke, his voice actually sounded somewhat normal, if a bit forced. "She was a birthday present to me, from Hagrid. I named her Hedwig, but you can name her what you like."

 _Harry_ cocked his head to look at the owl perched happily on his shoulder. "Hedwig, huh? I like it. What do you think?" He asked her. When she bobbed her head in agreement, _Harry_ smiled. "Hedwig it is, then."

Harry gave a strained smile before he excused himself. He went into the next room and shut the door. There was about a minute of silence before they all heard a loud scream, followed by a loud 'Bombarda'!, followed by a few Sectumsempra's, Diffindo's, and a couple of Incendio's, before they all heard loud sobs. Sirius finally had enough. He didn't know what was going on, but he needed to help his godson.

"What...?" _Harry_ started.

"His Hedwig flew into the path of a Killing Curse meant for him." Hermione said softly. "You better take good care of her." She warned.

Remus noticed _Harry_ looked apprehensive as he pet the newly named Hedwig. "Don't worry about him, he'll be fine. Hedwig was his constant companion. He told her everything, including a few things he probably never even told Ron and Hermione."

Hermione nodded. "If she wasn't on a delivery or in the owlery sleeping, she was on Harry's shoulder. All the time except for class. It wasn't unusual for the two of them for the two of them to fall asleep together on the couch in the common room."

"I gave up years ago of keeping that owl out of my infirmary. She always seemed to find her way in again, no matter how many times I locked the windows and doors." Madam Pomfrey added.

Snape sighed. "She came to visit me a few times, usually in the evenings or when I had a free period while Potter was in class. She always seemed to know when I was in a particularly bad mood from teaching dunderheads." His gaze suddenly sharpened on _Harry_. "She's right, boy. You better take very good care of that bird, an owl like that only comes around once in a lifetime, and you are very blessed that she chose you."

With that said, Hedwig hooted and nipped _Harry_ on the ear before she flew towards the door Harry and Sirius went through. The door opened before she reached it, and closed with a snap when she was in.

The entire time they spoke about Harry Potter's feathered companion, they ignored the older Dursleys muttering about 'that ruddy owl'. Well, not quite ignored, because the couple were suddenly sporting pink and purple polka dots, horns and a tail, and their skin was green. They were also silenced so none of the wizards could hear their yelling.

That was the scene Harry, Sirius, and Hedwig came back to. The _Dursley's_ staring at the wizards in fear, while a green, polka dotted Dursley couple were silently yelling and ranting. The wizards and the Dudley's were talking to each other quietly, with the Twins telling the Dudley's some stories about Harry at Hogwarts.

When everybody noticed they were there, the conversations stopped when everyone turned to watch Harry carefully, trying to see if he was ok now or not. His eyes were red and he still had tear-tracks down his cheeks, but he had a soft smile on his face as he cradled Hedwig to his chest and pet her, speaking softly. Sirius had one hand on his shoulder while he led Harry back to their seats.

Once they were seated, Harry held out his arm for Hedwig to go back to _Harry_. She did, nesting down into his lap, using the fuzzy blanket both boys and Sirius still had, although she stretched her head out and pushed it underneath Harry's hand, much like a cat would when they wanted your attention.

Harry smiled softly at her again before a box of owl treats appeared in his hand. "These are her favorites." He said as he held one out for her, she took it happily.

The Weasley's all seemed to sigh in relief, he'd be alright.

 **("Don't do that."... savaging the coat.)**

"He won't leave without his pay. He'll tear that coat to shreds to find his money." McGonagal said, smiling slightly.

A few people shuddered, either from experience, or from the reminder of Sprouts injuries.

 **("Hagrid!" said Harry loudly... Look in the pockets.")**

A few people snorted, "Which pockets?" They all muttered.

 **(Hagrid's coat seemed to be made of nothing but pockets-)**

People snorted again. That was the truth.

"I'm the groundskeeper. I never know what I will need, when I will need it." Hagrid said, slightly embarrassed.

"We know, Hagrid." Harry said, smiling at his big friend.

 **(bunches of keys... strange-looking coins.)**

"Hey, they aren't strange looking." Draco protested.

"They are when compared to what I was used to." Harry snorted. He asked Hermione to toss him their bag, and he dug out his money pouch, which currently held both wizard and Muggle money, although he had more wizard than Muggle at the moment.

He dumped some of it out on the table for Draco to look at and compare the two. "When you go from what you know, to suddenly finding out there is a whole 'nother world out there, and then just get thrown into that world without being told what to expect, it can be a bit of a shock." He said softly. "Especially when you have thousands of people you didn't even know existed expecting miracles from you simply because of something your mother did."

Everybody was silent for a moment before _Draco_ asked how you used these. Looking at the bills on the table.

Everybody chose to ignore the Dursley parents sputtering about Freaks and Freaky nonsense, not even knowing how money worked.

What followed was an impromptu lesson on Muggle money, what the numbers in the corner meant, what the coins were and how many coins went into a pound, and all that stuff. They even delved a little bit into the sales tax system. Hermione had to explain really quick how some pieces of paper could have any value, but the Purebloods were satisfied with hearing that the bits of paper were backed up by gold somewhere. Muggles just didn't feel like carrying a lot of it around, so they carried around paper to represent that gold.

At the end, both Draco's looked thoughtful, the Muggle money system was certainly a bit more complicated than they would have thought. After all, they were raised believing Muggles to be slightly more intelligent than the average troll. But now, Muggles had things like guns, and complicated money systems.

 **("Give him five Knuts," said Hagrid sleepily.)**

"Hagrid, he didn't know what a Knut was." McGonagal said fondly, she was still trying to remember what Albus told her about why he sent Hagrid to introduce a child to their world and their magic.

"Its alright, professor, this was probably the best way I could start getting used to wizard money." Harry said from where Sirius was currently bundling him back up in the fuzzy blanket under Hedwig's watchful gaze.

Harry looked exasperated, but allowed Sirius to fuss. He rolled his eyes fondly when Hedwig hopped down to pick up the stuffed stag in her beak from where it fell earlier before hopping back up and dropping it back in his lap. Then she went back to her nest in _Harry's_ lap.

Draco stopped his younger self from saying anything he might regret.

 **("Knuts?"... sat up, and stretched.)**

McGonagal sighed and shook her head. She wasn't even going to try.

 **("Best be off, Harry,... had got a puncture.)**

"No!" The Twins suddenly cried dramatically, startling a few people who had actually done one of the most dangerous things known to wizard-kind, aside from forgetting Harry Potter was in the room.

They forgot the WEASLEY TWINS were in the room.

"Not the happy balloon!" George finished, moaning dramatically and flopping back in his seat.

They both grinned when they succeeded in making people laugh, getting rid of some of the lingering tension from when Hedwig arrived.

Sirius and Remus both smiled gratefully at the boys.

 **("Um- Hagrid?"... got any money-)**

"No money?! Potter, you are the last remaining member of the wealthiest family in Britain!" _Draco_ burst out.

"I'm what?" Both Harry's yelped once his words sunk in.

"You didn't know?" Draco asked, bewildered. He always thought Harry knew, and that was why he rejected his hand.

Although, he supposed he wasn't that surprised considering what he knew now.

Snape nodded at having his newest theory confirmed, while Moody made a mark on his parchment beside where he wrote down to check on the Potter finances, make sure it was all where it was supposed to be. Bill also nodded and started his letter to go to his employers. He would have started it earlier, but wanted to confirm that Harry didn't know about it first.

Harry turned to Remus, but Remus anticipated his question. "Both Sirius and I thought you knew and it just didn't really come up." He ran a hand through his hair. "Siri was planning on taking you to the bank for your sixteenth birthday to claim your Lordship, though."

"I grew up Muggle, how was I supposed to know about a wizarding fortune?"

"Albus told us he kept you informed of your financials, and then when Sirius took over managing it all as your godfather, he went through Albus to keep you updated on it all. Since as far as the Ministry knew, Albus was your magical guardian, which made him in charge of your accounts. Every month, Sirius would write up a summary of what he would have gone over in person with you, and give it to Albus to go over with you instead. He never went through any of it with you?" Harry shook his head.

"You never received a monthly statement from Gringotts starting on your 13th birthday?"

Harry shook his head. Everyone turned to Dumbledore, Moody thought he looked vaguely uncomfortable.

"I'm sure my older self thought the boy had enough responsibility being the Boy-Who-Lived without adding such a large fortune and so much political responsibility to the pile." He said somewhat nervously.

Bill narrowed his eyes and before anyone knew it, a large pile of parchment, as well as a fairly large ledger and a small pile of objects appeared on the table in front of them.

One of them was the Invisibility Cloak.

Sirius and Remus narrowed their eyes at the pile, recognizing some of it as priceless Potter heirlooms. Dumbledore paled.

Next thing they all knew, a trunk appeared by the pile, and both Sirius and Remus were on their knees, carefully placing the ancient objects inside it, muttering under their breath about old men with sticky fingers.

Bill raised an eyebrow. "I asked the room to give me all the Potter account information since Halloween 1980, as well as all Potter heirlooms that were not where they were supposed to be, namely not in the Potter vaults or a Potter property. Where Lord James Potter left them when he died."

With that, he picked up the ledger and parchments, and went to a corner where he could still hear and still be able to work in peace.

Sirius joined him after he finished helping Remus with the heirlooms and left the trunk in Moody's care.

 **(and you heard Uncle Vernon... leave yeah anything?")**

"Your parents only left you more gold then you knew what to do with." Remus snorted, still watching Albus suspiciously. He heard Sirius's conversation with Severus and Bill earlier.

He just hadn't wanted to believe it.

Oh, he didn't think Albus was evil in any way. Just, perhaps been placed on a pedestal too long without anybody ever calling him out when he made a mistake, did something wrong, or went too far.

After so long with nobody ever telling him 'no', his sense of 'right and wrong', or perhaps even the line between real life and chess board perhaps got a little blurred.

 **("But if their house was destroyed-")**

 _Ron_ was confused. "What would the house have anything to do with their money?"

Harry was red, he muttered something about not getting out much.

 **("They didn' keep... Run by goblins.")**

"What?" _Hermione_ squeaked.

"Don't worry, they're not the friendliest, but they won't attack unless provoked." Bill spoke up from his corner, where he and Sirius were looking angrier and angrier while they read and took notes.

"Remus! Come here a moment." Sirius called.

When Remus went over, he was immediately drawn into an intense whispered discussion.

 **(Harry dropped the bit of sausage he was holding.)**

 _Hermione_ nodded, her first reaction was now justified. He did it too.

 **(" _Goblins_?" "Yeah- so... mess with goblins, Harry.)**

The Trio shifted in their seats. If one of the Horcruxes was where they thought it was, then they just might need to do just that.

Luckily, none of the adults noticed their discomfort.

 **(Gringotts is the safest... can trust me, see.)**

The whole time Hagrid talked about his business at Gringotts, the Heads of House all had their heads in their hands, except for Snape who just pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Hagrid, you know how curious James and Lily were, and you just hinted at a possible mystery to THEIR SON! No wonder he found out about it." McGonagall groaned.

Only Snape and Moody noticed the satisfied expression on Albus's face.

'Excellent, now I can see if my theory was correct.' Dumbledore thought.

 **("Got everythin'?... "Flew," said Hagrid.)**

"Wait, what? How?" The younger Trio all yelped, eyeing Hagrid's size.

"I took a Thestral." Hagrid explained further. _Ron's_ eyes widened and he leaned away from Hagrid a little bit.

"What's a Thestral?" _Hermione_ asked curiously.

"It's a winged, reptilian horse. For some reason, you can only see them if you've seen somebody die." Harry explained. "They are one of the most feared and _misunderstood_ creatures alive for that reason."

He finished, emphasizing that they were misunderstood while looking at Ron.

"They are also very intelligent and have excellent senses of direction. Just name where you want to go, and they will get you there. Just hold on and enjoy the ride." Neville said.

The six who'd been there were all thinking about the Ministry incident. They didn't say anything though.

 **(" _Flew_?" "Yeah- but... in the boat,)**

"Wait, wasn't that the only boat there?" Hermione asked slowly. When they nodded, she turned to Dudley. "Then how did you get home?" She asked him.

Harry stared at her, shocked. All these years, and he'd never once considered how his relatives got off that island.

"Coast Guard came by eventually." Dudley shrugged.

 **(Harry still staring at... mentionin' it at Hogwarts?")**

"Hagrid." McGonagal moaned again.

Hagrid smiled sheepishly at her.

 **("Of course not,"... guardin' the high-security vaults.)**

The Trio frowned. Bellatrix's vault would be a high-security vault, which meant they might have to deal with a dragon.

Charlie narrowed his eyes in Bill's direction. "That's not true, is it, Bill?" The dragon-tamer hissed, sounding remarkably like the dragons he loved so much.

"Huh? I'm sorry, is what true?" Bill looked up from the parchment he was skimming.

Somehow, Charlie's eyes narrowed even more. "Dragons. In Gringotts." He growled.

The Draco's eyes widened. They had only ever really heard of the famous Weasley temper, never seen it. Draco didn't really count riling Ron up at school.

Bill paled. There was a reason he 'forgot' to mention this to his younger brother. "Yes." He said cautiously, putting his quill down and inching his hand for his wand. Charlie was getting to where he was too angry to think, too angry to recognize him. "But Charlie, you have to remember, I don't work vault security. My job is bringing in treasure and undoing Dark Curses before the items go to auction." He said as he watched his brother cautiously.

All the Weasley's were watching the most laid back member of their clan carefully, while Harry and Hermione slowly pulled _Harry_ and _Hermione_ behind the couch, letting _Ron_ do whatever. He ended up hiding behind Ginny since he didn't have Charlie's old wand yet.

"Why didn't you ever mention this before?" Charlie hissed.

"Um, because I know you would react like this?" Bill questioned like Charlie just asked a stupid question.

Finally, Arthur stepped in before Charlie said anything he might regret later once he came out of his temper. "Charlie, other room, blow it off. Now." He said firmly when it looked like his second oldest was going to argue.

Charlie glared but he did storm out. A few seconds later, they heard explosions, much like earlier when Hedwig appeared.

Arthur sighed and ran a hand down his face. Everyone was quiet. With the exception of Molly, they'd never seen a Weasley in full temper like that. They were usually so laid back and caring.

"Lets just continue, he's going to be a while." Arthur said tiredly.

 **(And then yeh... hands on summat.")**

"Didn't stop Quirrel," Ron muttered.

Dumbledore looked up and narrowed his eyes at the Trio. Moody did too, and started scribbling on his parchment to investigate this Quirrel guy.

 **(Harry sat and thought... things up as usual,")**

"When are they not?" All of the older except Percy muttered.

Percy shifted uncomfortably, he knew what was going on, he knew he was wrong back in Ron's fifth year, that didn't mean he was ready to admit that though.

 **(Hagrid muttered, turning... could stop himself.)**

"Never be afraid to ask questions." McGonagal, Flitwick, Sprout, and Remus all lectured. Snape just grunted in agreement.

 _Harry's_ eyes went wide and he shrunk down slightly, nodded his head really fast the whole time.

The Weasley kids all looked at the professors and ex-professor with something similar to fear in their eyes as they, too, nodded for good measure.

 **("'Course," said Hagrid... Fudge got the job.)**

"What?" Sirius yelped from the corner. "That idiot got the job? All he cared about when he was in the department was the departments public image! He didn't care about doing the job or protecting the people!"

Moody grunted in agreement, "His worry about public image worked though, he got the popular vote from the public AND the majority from the Wizengamot."

Sirius snorted. "Yeah? And how many of that 'majority' pay him to look the other way?"

"Exactly." Snape muttered.

 **(Bungler if ever there... Ministry of Magic _do_?")**

"Not much." Nearly everyone muttered.

Harry nodded in agreement to that.

 **("Well, their main job... we're best left alone.")**

"There's also the matter of the witch-hunts." Neville piped in.

"Voldemort is bad enough without the Muggles being added to it." Luna murmured softly.

Harry watched her with a strange look on his face. He didn't think he like this down-to-earth, serious Luna.

He missed the girl who used to always talk about Nargles and Wrackspurts.

 **(At this moment... Muggles dream up, eh?")**

"Hagrid, I love you, but I don't think you were the best choice to go get Harry. You can't exactly blend in." McGonagal said with her head in her hands.

Hagrid nodded sheepishly, "Sorry, professor."

"Its not your fault, Hagrid." She said.

"Luckily that won't be a problem this time." Snape pointed out. "The boy already knows." he said, pointing to _Harry_.

Dumbledore narrowed his eyes and went to say something, only for them to ignore him and continue reading. He was starting to get really annoyed with them always ignoring him all of a sudden!

 **("Hagrid," said Harry... _dragons_ at Gringotts?")**

A growl sounded around the room, making people jump and look around, only to see Charlie was back.

When did he come back in?

 **("Well, so they say,"...- here we go.")**

"Wait." McGonagal said, horror spreading across her face. "He really had one?" She practically whispered.

The Trio looked at each cautiously while Draco looked very annoyed.

"Really had what, Professor?" Hermione asked carefully.

"A dragon." She whispered.

The Trio nodded, she slumped forward and buried her head in her hands, mumbling something.

 **(They had reached... canary-yellow circus tent.)**

"Hey, what happened to that thing, anyway?" Harry asked curiously.

"Huh? Oh, it was me new blanket, but Fang tore it up. I don' think he liked the color." Hagrid said.

Everyone laughed.

 **("Still got yer letter... THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS)**

"Same letter we had." Remus said as he was finally released from the 'accounting corner.'

"Yes." McGonagal frowned. Something didn't seem right about that.

 **("Can we buy all... go," said Hagrid.)**

"Wait, there should have been two more parchments in there." Flitwick exclaimed. "One saying how to find the train, and another listing all the introductory materials we require all Muggleborns and raised to buy."

"Introductory materials?" Harry asked, confused. "What?"

"You didn't get those?" Snape asked. Harry shook his head. "Well, that explains why you couldn't answer my questions that first lesson. Those were advanced questions, yes, but they were all listed as examples in the introductory potions book."

"It could also explain your problems with the theory in class, which then translated into your problems with the practical parts. Which explains your average performance when your parents were so brilliant." McGonagal said slowly. "The textbook I assign picks up almost straight from where the introductory books leave off." She said.

"Same with mine." Flitwick said. "The books explain to Muggleborns what all magical raised children grow up understanding, simply because they grew up with it."

"That being said, the fact you did as well as you did..." Remus began. He stared at Harry for a moment before turning to McGonagal.

"I included that list in all the letters I sent him. Albus personally handled his last letter, the one delivered by Hagrid." She said in defense.

When everyone turned to Dumbledore, he said, "I assumed, before this reading began, that Harry grew up happy, loved, and knowing about his heritage as a wizard. Therefore, I probably didn't see the need for him to get these books, since I thought Petunia would possibly still have Lily's."

Snape snorted. "Please, you know full well Petunia hated Lily and wanted nothing to do with her or magic."

"They are family, Severus." Dumbledore said firmly. "Again, I'm sure..."

"Family means nothing to her, professor." Harry cut in, eyeing Dumbledore like he was crazy. "To her, if its not 'normal,' it shouldn't exist, whether it shares blood with her or not."

"I never wanted that little Freak. I burned those... books of her years ago, before she ever went and got herself killed. I told you then, I'll tell you again now, I WANT NOTHING TO DO WITH YOUR FREAKISHNESS!" Petunia yelled.

 **(Harry had never been... Manage without magic,")**

"Its quite easy to manage without something if you don't even know it exists, Hagrid." Hermione said with an eyebrow raised.

 **(he said as they... you a magic wand.)**

"Well, no, not out in the open there's not." Draco said with a snort.

Harry scowled at him.

 **(This was just an... Dursleys had cooked up?)**

"Wow, ok, now is where you just let your imagination run away with you." Ron said. He knew his friend was a bit of a pessimist, but this was just sad.

Harry just shrugged.

 _ **"This is just the kind of sick, cruel joke they would come up with though.**_ " _Harry_ murmured.

Harry nodded. _**"Give you hope of escape, then you find out it was all a joke."**_ He agreed.

 **(If Harry hadn't... help trusting him.")**

"You trust too easily, boy." Moody barked.

 _Harry_ and the older Trio were frowning though.

"No, actually, he doesn't. He's cautious around everyone he just met. It took him a while to relax in our dorm room, especially to the point where he didn't spell his curtains shut... And that was with people his own age. Adults..." Neville said, frowning. From the conversation earlier about how observant both Harry and Neville apparently were, they weren't even surprised Neville would have noticed something like this.

Everyone turned to Harry, but he just shrugged.

"Maybe it's his subconscious, remembering Hagrid from when he was a baby?" Remus suggested.

Everyone shrugged and nodded that it was possible.

 **("This is it,"... Hagrid could see it.)**

"Muggle repelling wards. Muggles can't see it. Only magicals can." Hermione muttered, more out of habit than anything.

Her boys grinned at her.

 **(Before he could... like a toothless walnut.)**

That sent people laughing again, with the Twins falling out of their seats.

"Toothless walnut!" Fred cried.

"Why didn't we..." George.

"...ever think of that?" They finished together.

"Because," Harry started.

"Your not me." _Harry_ finished.

The two boys then high-fived each other while still staring at the Twins.

"I'm suddenly very grateful that Mr. Potter is not a twin." Snape said to the other professor's. They all nodded mutely in agreement.

In the corner, Sirius was 'crying' about how proud he was.

 **(The low buzz... "Is this- can this be-?")**

Harry suddenly groaned and banged his head against the back of his couch, muttering curses in parseltongue the whole time.

 _Harry's_ eyes widened. Hearing words like that from Uncle Vernon and hearing them from himself were very different things.

"What's he saying?" Ron asked, eyeing his friend.

"Um, I'd really rather not say." _Harry_ said slowly before glancing at the book.

Molly narrowed her eyes, but since she couldn't understand what he said, she couldn't really say anything about his language.

 **(The Leaky Cauldron... tears in his eyes.)**

"What?" _Harry_ yelped.

Harry stopped banging his head, but left it resting there with his eyes closed. Just hearing about his fame and the 'adoring masses' left him exhausted. "Yup, I'll teach you how to handle the crowds later on." He muttered. "Turning and running doesn't always work, sadly. They tend to come at you from all sides." _Harry_ paled.

 **("Welcome back... Hagrid was beaming.)**

"Hagrid!" A few people yelled out.

The half-giant blushed and muttered a 'sorry' to Harry, who just waved it off without opening his eyes.

 **(Then there was a... in the Leaky Cauldron.)**

Moody frowned, "That's a major security risk, anyone of those people could have cursed or taken Mr. Potter, and the rest of the crowd would have made it difficult to reach him in time." He said, frowning at Hagrid.

Hagrid's eyes widened and his face went pale as he muttered that he hadn't thought of that. He just thought the lad would like seeing how much people loved him.

 _Hermione_ frowned over at Harry, who still had his head back and his eyes closed. Then she looked over at _Harry_ , who looked annoyed with all the attention his older self was getting, while Harry's looked suspiciously blank. It was obvious to her that Harry had much experience dealing with crowds, as much as he seemed not to like them.

 **("Doris Crockford, Mr. Potter... Dedalus Diggle.")**

McGonagal groaned. That man never did have any sense, especially with kids.

 **("I've seen you before!"... He remembers me!")**

"It actually wouldn't surprise me if Harry hadn't thought he was familiar back when Diggle bowed to him in a shop, he did babysit you and Neville a few times." Remus said, a little bitterly.

"What?" Both Harry's and Neville asked, staring at the werewolf.

Remus nodded. "Once you two were a few months old, before your parents all went into hiding, the four of them started going on Order missions again. So, there was a rotation, a babysitting rotation. For while your parents were gone. The House-elves helped, of course, but everyone felt that, human contact would be better. That, and Lily still wasn't comfortable with the idea of House-elves. Alice and Lily tried to stay at home with you two as much as possible, but we needed every wand we had out in the field." He explained.

"You two were the only Order children, so it wasn't too difficult to arrange a schedule, if there had been more than just you, then we might have had a problem." McGonagal said, shrugging. "As it is, Diggle should have never been part of that rotation." She finished darkly.

"Wait, do you not like Diggle much?" Dudley asked.

Her face darkened even more. "One night, I was on mission with both Lily and Alice, Frank and James both had the night shift in the Auror office along with Sirius. Anyway, it was Diggle's turn to babysit. He was at Potter Manor with the two of you, instead of Godric's Hallow for extra security." She nodded at Harry and Neville, then she shook her head. "Dorea and Charlus were out, I believe they had some business in France to attend to. When we were done, Lily and Alice invited me over for some tea, when we got there, we found Diggle upstairs, in Lily and James room, asleep on THEIR bed, while you boys were downstairs, crying in the living room. The House-elves were in France with Dorea and Charlus because Dorea knew Lily wasn't comfortable with them. Neither of you had been changed or fed all night." She snorted a laugh.

"Lily and Alice only waited long enough to take care of the two of you, and summon one of the Longbottom elves to help me keep an eye on you before storming up to the bedroom to deal with Diggle. They took him out back before cursing and hexing him." She snorted again, "Before those two women got ahold of him, Diggle was physically capable of having children." Her and the other women watched in amusement as all the males caught onto her meaning and instinctively moved to hide their private areas with a grimace. "After the ladies were done with him, they dragged him, still twitching and crying, into the Auror office, and told your fathers and Sirius what happened."

Sirius grinned savagely, "The entire night shift joined us in cursing him, everyone there loved you two boys," Then he sighed sadly, "We had to stop, though, before our shift supervisor came back though." He said, glaring at Moody.

"Wish you hadn't. I was wondering why Lily and Alice seemed so icy, and why he seemed so terrified of them after that, they used to get along. If I had known, I would have happily joined you in cursing the coward." He grinned at Sirius's expression. "You forget, I was next on the rotation, there was a fear in both boys eyes when Lily and Alice said goodnight and walked out the door. The two of you started howling every time I so much as took one step towards any door and I didn't have you in my arms to take you with me." He shook his head, his face stony.

"Why didn't you arrest him, then?" _Hermione_ demanded. She couldn't believe they just let him get away with this, she wasn't counting what Harry and Neville's mothers did to him. She was thinking in a legal sense. "That's very..." She never got the chance to finish.

"It was a war, the Ministry and Law Enforcement had bigger problems to deal with. Plus, if they'd arrested him, during that time, use of Veritaserum was almost mandatory on any who weren't of an Ancient and Noble House, which Diggle isn't. His involvement in the Order of the Phoenix would have come out, as well as my parents, the Potters, Professor McGonagal's, and who knows who else's if they kept questioning him on it. If that happened, then anyone the Death Eaters didn't already know about would have been in danger. My Gran told me they tried to keep their involvement as secret as possible, for as long as possible." Neville broke in.

"Yes, _secret_." Remus said, raising an eyebrow.

"My Gran told me about it, so did Ginny this year." Neville shrugged.

Remus nodded and sighed. "Lily and Alice tried to press charges, but Albus wouldn't let them. Both for the reason's Neville just listed, and he also said Diggle was needed too much for the war effort."

"The lives of an entire community is more important than the momentary discomfort of a couple of children." Albus said stubbornly.

The adults eyes narrowed, and Remus suddenly remembered his thoughts from earlier, that Albus forgot about the important things in light of his 'Greater Good'.

 **(Harry shook hands... "Professor Quirrel!")**

The Trio hissed at the mention of Quirrel.

"You didn't mention that you'd already met him before school started." Hermione said with a frown.

"Must have slipped my mind. I wonder though... if he already had..." Harry trailed off, leaving everyone who didn't already know the story confused.

 **(said Hagrid... at the very thought.)**

"Oh, that poor dear." Molly muttered. The Trio winced.

Those that knew, turned to Ron in disbelief, he never told her? The Trio shook their heads, none of them ever told her, they thought the professor's would have told her.

They glanced at McGonagal, who shook her head and pointed at Dumbledore. That explained it.

 **(But the others... away from them all.)**

 _Harry_ squeaked a little and Harry laid his head back again with a groan.

The Draco's and Snape watched his obvious discomfort.

Snape was a little disturbed over how he let a childhood grudge with this boys father blind him so completely to what he now saw as obvious.

He was having a hard time mustering up any of his usual hatred for the boy at the moment.

 **(At last, Hagrid... trouble with a hag-)**

The Trio snorted. A vampire and a hag, yeah right. More like a Dark Lord.

 **(never been the same... turned out of sight.)**

Over in the corner, Sirius sighed and rested his head in his hands, once again cursing himself for going after the rat and landing himself in Azkaban. He cursed Pettigrew too, for ever betraying them in the first place. It should be him taking Harry school shopping, him with James and Lily. Not Hagrid.

"Hey," Bill said quietly, laying a hand on his shoulder. When Sirius looked up, he continued quietly. "You'll be there for him now. We can't change what happened back then, you can only focus on taking care of him now."

Sirius saw Remus look up and over at them, nodding in agreement with what Bill said, also indicating that he would help.

Sirius took a breath and nodded at both of them. Focus on _Harry_ , he could do that.

 **("Welcome," said Hagrid, "to Diagon Alley.")**

Sirius and Remus smiled at each other sadly. It should still have been James and Lily taking Harry school shopping, with the two of them tagging along for the ride. But they were gone, so it would have to be Sirius, and maybe Remus if the werewolf came back in time. But that would depend on if he even got word of Sirius's trial.

 **(He grinned at... back into solid wall.)**

"Woah." _Harry_ , _Hermione_ , and both Dudley's said.

The older wizards all grinned, wait 'till they saw it in person.

Well, _Harry_ and _Hermione_ anyway, they would have to see about _Dudley_.

 **(The sun shone... -self-stirring-collapsible,)**

Snape groaned, "Never, and I mean NEVER, get a collapsible cauldron. The fool things are worthless and dangerous. The Potions Masters conference has been trying to make them stop producing them for years, but they won't listen, they make too much money on the things. Its a miracle there haven't been more deaths." He said bitterly.

Everyone nodded, eyes wide. The Potion Masters face was twisted in a look of loathing Harry had only ever seen directed at him or Sirius. Although since they came here, the Potion Master had been more... he didn't really want to say _nice_ , but...

"Don't get a Self-Stirring one either. They are nice when working multiple potions, but the charms are unreliable after a while and can affect the potion you are working on, depending on what it is." Snape continued. Everyone else just nodded.

 **(said a sign... eight more eyes.)**

Both Rons shuddered.

"Why, mate, why?" Ron complained, falling back into his seat dramatically.

Harry chuckled, "Sorry, mate." Ron sighed.

"Your afraid of spiders?" Draco sniggered.

Harry narrowed his eyes, "There are plenty of things YOUR scared of, Malfoy."

"Care for us to list a few?" Neville asked innocently.

Draco's eyes widened and he shook his head frantically.

"That's what I thought." Harry and Neville muttered, sitting back in their seats while everyone looked on in amazement. The Twins were crying in the corner about why Harry never shared his blackmail information with them, or even really used it during school, that they knew of anyway.

 **(He turned his head... an ounce, they're mad...")**

"Oh." Molly exclaimed, "I think that was me..."

Harry smiled at the motherly woman and nodded.

Over in the corner, Sirius was heard muttering, "Seventeen an ounce? They _are_ mad. And why can't they just say a Galleon, why seventeen sickles?"

 **(A low, soft hooting... Two Thousand- fastest ever-...")**

Harry smirked. "Not anymore."

 _Draco_ sat up straight, "They already came out with something faster?!" He asked, excited. The Trio still weren't quite sure what to make of this younger, more childish Draco Malfoy, but they decided to just go with it.

They smirked smugly as Draco groaned and grumbled something about brooms that nobody could quite catch. Not even his father got him a Firebolt. A moment later, a Firebolt dropped onto the table.

Harry's eyes widened, because it was HIS. He recognized the serial numbers on the handle, and the owl feather he kept tied to it.

"I thought this was destroyed!" Harry yelled happily.

Draco groaned. Great, the Seeker prodigy of Hogwarts had his broom back. He _hated_ seeing Potter on that thing, usually because it meant Gryffindor was about to win. AGAIN.

"What do you mean, you 'thought' it had been destroyed?" Snape asked curiously. He wasn't about to tell the boy that he'd gone back later to find and bury Hedwig, and found the broom lying nearby. Surprisingly, it had little damage.

"I lost it in that fight where Sirius' bike was crashed and Hedwig..." He trailed off, pain flashing in his eyes again. After a moment, in which Hedwig hooted and stretched her neck out to rub her feathered head against his leg, Harry shook himself before moving to sit on the floor, reaching for the Service kit that appeared. He needed something to do with his hands right now, and a few of the twigs were bent, most likely from the fall, and there were a few scuffs on it too.

Before long, the room was filled with the smell of polish.

 **(There were shops... globes of the moon...)**

The younger kids (except for _Ron_ ) and Dudley all listened with wide eyes.

That place sounded amazing.

 **("Gringotts," said Hagrid... long fingers and feet.")**

The kids eyes got a fraction wider.

The Dudley's had a bit of fear in their eyes, although Dudley had a little more fascination than fear.

The Dursley's were shaking with terror, creature's like this existed?

 **(He bowed as they walked inside.)**

"A word of advice, kids. Not only is it polite, but the goblins respect wizards who respect their customs, and it is customary to return a gesture." Bill said as he and Sirius walked back to the group.

Bill stopped by Moody's seat on the way to his own seat and slid the parchments they'd been working

on inside the trunk filled with the Potter Heirlooms.

They, Sirius and Remus, had apparently decided it was best to let the paranoid old Auror guard them.

 **(Now they were... an' rob it," said Hagrid.)**

"Actually, something that kind of became lost to history, that poem isn't a warning. It's a challenge. A dare. The goblins are a warrior race, that's why they are trusted to guard our money. Anyone who manages to break into Gringotts and successfully steal something would have the goblins respect. Of course, they would still have your head for stealing from them, they don't tolerate thieves, so you better have a VERY good reason for your actions." Bill said.

He was careful not to look at the Trio as he spoke.

 **(A pair of goblins... "You have his key, sir?")**

Bill frowned at that, thinking of what he just finished going over with Sirius, they still had a lot of it to read over, of course, but they decided they had gone over enough to get a good enough idea for Bill to put it in his letter.

What the two of them just couldn't figure out was WHY. Why did Dumbledore think he could just take money out of the Potter vaults? He took more than what he was entitled to as the Estate Executor, which according to what Sirius remembered from James and Lily's wills, he wasn't even that. They named Remus.

 **("Got it here somewhere"... book of numbers.)**

Bill grimaced. No wonder the goblins made Hagrid take his coat off and leave it with the front guards before entering the bank.

He'd wondered about that.

 **(The goblin wrinkled... as glowing coals.)**

 _Hermione_ whistled, then she frowned. "I thought you said they were a warrior race?" She asked Bill. "And how do you know so much about them?"

He grinned and nodded. "I know so much because I work for them, I'm a Curse-Breaker there. And they are, primarily, a warrior race. They are also master craftsmen, they have some of the best blacksmiths in the world, they are miners, and bankers. Only the Potter and Black families can surpass their skill and knowledge of wards. They can do just about anything. But yes, they are primarily a warrior race."

Moody grinned. "Just because they are excellent fighters, doesn't mean they can't be excellent with money, too Lass."

 **("Got it,"... hundred and thirteen.")**

"Hagrid!" All the teachers groaned.

Harry grinned impishly while Hagrid blushed and muttered another 'sorry'.

 **(The goblin read... both vaults. Griphook!")**

Bill blinked in surprise. Why was Griphook driving the carts? He was the Kings youngest son, he didn't drive carts. Then he glanced at Harry.

Ah, that was why.

 **(Griphook was yet... worth ter tell yeh that.")**

"And you just added fuel to the fire." Snape muttered pinching the bridge of his nose.

 **(Griphook held the door... it was impossible.)**

"Its impressive that you managed to remember and keep track of that many." Moody muttered.

Thinking again that the kid would be a great Auror.

 **(The rattling cart... I'm gonna be sick.")**

A few people chuckled. Yeah, Hagrid never did well with the carts.

 **(He did look... little bronze Knuts.)**

Both Vernon's narrowed their eyes. Until now, they hadn't believed a word these Freaks said about the little Freak having money. "What's the conversion rate between those coins of yours and pounds?" Vernon asked suddenly.

Everyone narrowed their eyes at him, Dumbledore actually opened his mouth to answer, when Bill cut him off. "Why do you want to know? Its not like you'll ever get your greedy hands on it. You get paid enough in your monthly stipends to take care of Harry, those payments of which, will stop immediately, and expect the money to be taken back." The whole time he spoke, the Vernon's faces went red with anger, and he opened his mouth to start ranting again when he was interrupted.

The Harry's were frozen. "They get paid?" Harry whispered.

"To keep me?" _Harry's_ whisper sounded broken. Molly cooed and started to get up to go comfort the boys, but Arthur pulled her back. Everyone else suddenly became interested in the floor or walls. Or the ceiling, that worked too.

Bill winced, he shouldn't have said that. Luckily, it seemed like Sirius was ready for his idiocy, even if he did get a very dirty look from the man.

"Yeah, kiddo, that's about the only part of your parents wills that got followed. Your parents had a vault set aside with a specified amount to go towards your guardians, whoever that ended up being if I wasn't around anymore. Of course, if I had been around instead of Azkaban, it would have been me. But it was supposed to help out financially since suddenly having another mouth to feed could be a bit of a strain for a while in the beginning." He snorted. "I wasn't planning on touching it, mostly because I wasn't planning on it being needed, since to my mind, nothing was going to happen to them. Apparently, your filthy relatives didn't have the same hesitance about touching it." He said as he pulled his boys in for a hug.

"All those toys and things they gave Dudley, I paid for them? All those family trips, everything they planned and bought in front of me while giving me these looks... all those times they sold me out to the neighbors as cheap labor to pay them back for keeping me, all the food they stuffed down Dudley's throat..." Harry said faintly.

Sirius realized the boys were going into shock and he didn't want them in a crowded room when they finally snapped out of it and exploded.

He got up and pulled the boys with him. "Continue without us." He murmured as he half-carried the shocked boys out, Hedwig winging her way after them.

 **("All yours," smiled Hagrid... cost them to keep?)**

Everyone growled. He didn't cost them a thing, if anything, he paid them to live there! Without knowing it!

 **(And all the time... only," said Griphook.)**

Bill laughed. "There's more than one, they just like to see wizards suffer in the carts. They go slower for people they like or respect, and for pregnant witches."

Hagrid's eyes widened slightly before he took on a pouting expression.

 **(They were going... scruff of his neck.)**

Just as the witches sighed in relief and thanked Hagrid, there was a muffled 'boom' from down the hallway where Sirius took the boys.

Molly got up, determined to go take care of the boys, when Hedwig showed up, a note clamped in her beak. She looked a little singed around the edges.

Molly tried to step around her so could go, but Hedwig wouldn't let her pass. Finally, Arthur got up to sit her back down and take the note. As soon as he took it, Hedwig flew back down the hallway, where muffled yelling and sobbing could now be heard.

"Sirius wants us to stay here and keep reading, no matter what else we may hear." Arthur read.

"Oh, but..." Molly said, trying to get up again. In her mind, Harry needed a shoulder to cry on and she was the only mother here, so she was the only one qualified to do that.

"No, dear." Arthur said, pushing her back in her seat, "Sirius can take care of his godson. You need to back off the boy, your mothering only scares him, he doesn't know what to do with it." Arthur said firmly.

Molly fell quiet and stared at her husband, then looked around at all her kids only find them and Hermione grimacing before they nodded that that was true. Arthur sighed and sat back down, pulling her into a hug and whispering to her as the book kept going. "You can still be there, just give him space."

 **(Vault 713 had no keyhole.)**

"Huh, a medium security vault." Bill muttered.

 **("Stand back," said... there," said Griphook.)**

 _Hermione_ blinked and looked at Bill, who shrugged. "That's... I mean, that's... that's..." She stuttered.

Bill raised an eyebrow. "That's how the goblins deal with would-be thieves. That's there culture. Do not try to change it or impose your own beliefs over it." He said, a little coldly, glancing at Hermione as he did, she blushed, knowing that comment was for her with how she fought for elf rights.

 **("How often do... rather nasty grin.)**

"What?!" _Hermione_ yelled. "But that's totally barbaric! They don't really wait so long, do they?"

"Nah, it's more like... every year or so. They like to exaggerate sometimes, scare wizards." Bill shrugged.

"About once a year isn't much better." _Hermione_ said.

Bill shrugged again, "Like I said, it's how the goblins operate. If you don't want to starve to death in a vault, then don't try to steal from one. Although, you would probably suffocate before you starved, those vaults are air-tight. I know, I was part of the team that tested the security measures back when I was first hired." Hermione still looked horrified. Bill just sighed again. He could only imagine how she would be once House-elves entered the picture.

Good thing they were in a room full of teachers who could set her straight, plus a few pure-bloods who didn't also happen to be blood-traitors.

"Finished!" Ollivander suddenly ran back to the rest of the group crying. In his hands was Sirius's new wand. He looked around confused, "Where is Lord Black?" He asked.

Everyone looked at each other, "Uh, you must have been too concentrated on your work. Sirius had to take the boys out of the room. Something came to light and the boys needed some... space." Remus said.

"Oh." Ollivander said, looking down at the wand in disappointment. He wanted to present it to its intended wielder. He loved matching wands to the correct wizards, and he loved the expressions of awe and joy people tended to make when they connected with a wand, that look would only be intensified now with Lord Black since he was without a wand for so long after his got snapped. "Well, I'll wait to present this after this chapter, then. Or whenever he comes back with the boys."

 **(Something really... top security vault,)**

Bill chuckled, "Actually, that's only a medium security vault. The top security vault have Blood-Wards protecting the doors, if you don't have the blood of that family or you aren't a Gringotts goblin, and you touch it, you do NOT want to know what happens." He informed the younger kids. "And that's on top of the dragons that some of those vaults are guarded with." They blinked and shivered, even _Ron_ , and he had heard some of the stories before.

 **(Harry was sure,... thought it was empty.)**

"Huh?" Most people asked. Ron and Hermione stayed silent though, as did Dumbledore.

 **(Then he noticed... lying on the floor.)**

"Ok, what? How is that little thing so important?" _Hermione_ asked.

"Never link size with magical power or ability." Fred said seriously.

"Yup, sometimes the most power comes in the smallest packages." George finished.

Both brothers were subtly trying to point her gaze towards Ginny, who just stared at them with a raised eyebrow, because they weren't actually all that subtle.

 **(Hagrid pocketed it... know what it was,)**

Every single teacher who taught Lily Evans, or as she was soon to become, Lily Potter, groaned and banged their heads against the couch behind them, muttering about how he inherited his mother's curiosity. Even Snape was groaning mentally about it being no wonder keeping the boy safe was so difficult. He attracted trouble because of Lily's curiosity!

There was a reason he joked about Lily having enough curiosity for both her and Petunia.

 **(but knew better than to ask.)**

"For now, anyway." Most of the staff including Snape grumbled.

 **("Come on, back in... Dudley had ever had.)**

The Vernon's got a glint in their eyes. If they could just figure out to milk the younger freak for every piece of gold he had once the younger ones got back to their own time... They would never have to work another day in their lives, and they could probably buy out all of England!

Moody did not like the look in Vernon's eye, not at all. He noted another thing on his list to keep an eye out for.

 **("Might as well... them Gringotts carts.")**

McGonagal sighed. "Hagrid, you aren't supposed to leave students new to the wizarding world alone."

She said, tiredly. "Well, I suppose its at least good that your not going to go drinking in front of him." She muttered.

Hagrid sheepishly nodded his head.

 **(He did still look... dressed all in mauve.)**

Hermione was confused, "How on earth does he know what mauve is? He's a guy, I'm a girl and I don't even know what mauve is." She muttered.

Petunia sniffed. "I needed someone to carry the bags when I went shopping. Those things were heavy." Everyone glared at her, yet another example of the Dursley's flaunting HARRY's money in front of him.

 **("Hogwarts, dear?" she... up his long black robes.)**

"Oh, no." Draco suddenly moaned. "I forgot all about this conversation." He muttered. He really didn't want to know what his 'rival' thought of him the first time they spoke. Not to mention everything he remembered saying to Potter about Hagrid, he supposed he could sort of understand why the other boy was so defensive of the half-giant.

His younger self looked pensive about whatever they were about to read. The remaining Trio in the room were also worried about what the two could possibly talk about. Ron, though, was wondering if there was more to Harry refusing to shake Malfoy's hand on the train than just what Malfoy said about him, Ron.

 **(Madam Malkin stood... to the right length.)**

"Wait, she did it by hand? Why not just use magic?" _Hermione_ asked, confused. She would have thought that somebody with magic wouldn't need to do manual labor.

The Draco's sneered at her, but didn't say anything when Snape's hand landed on their knees again.

"There are just some things magic just can't substitute for, dear. Some things don't react well to it, other things are just a tad too dangerous to use magic on to get it done. For example, using magic on pins, so close to skin, is not a good idea. And sometimes spells wear off over time, so any charms she might use to just make it fit, wouldn't still be in place by the end of the year." Sprout explained gently.

Her mouth formed an 'O'. "Makes sense, I guess." She said slowly.

"Remember, she only learned magic existed a couple of hours ago." Snape whispered in his godsons ears. They glanced at him before they both nodded.

 **("Hello," said the boy,... at wands," said the boy.)**

Ollivander scowled, "Young man, I do not know why your mother thought she could get your wand for you, when she knows just as much as everyone else that the wand chooses the wizard, it is not something a parent can just go in and buy for their child like they can a broom." It really irked him to no end when rich parents thought they would be the exception to that and come in expecting to be able to pick out a wand for their child and go.

He did not run a broom shop!

Throughout his scolding, _Draco_ shrunk further and further into his seat, not that he would ever admit to that. Ever.

 **(He had a bored,... smuggle it in somehow.")**

"Mr. Malfoy." McGonagal's voice was sharp. "You better be grateful you did not try that, or you would have had worse than a reprimand from your godfather from me." She warned.

"What? But Potter got a broom his first year, and he was on the team!" Draco yelled.

"Ah, but the broom didn't officially belong to him his first year. Officially, he was borrowing a school broom that year. At the end of the year, I 'gifted' it to him." Everyone stared at the Gryffindor Head of House.

"That was... very Slytherin- of you, Minerva." Snape said, eyeing his colleague.

She raised an eyebrow. "I put up with both the Weasley Twins and the Marauders, I had to learn to be sneaky if I ever wanted to catch any of them. And then, of course, Harry came to the castle... I never could catch him though... not when he didn't want to be caught anyway." She grinned.

 **(Harry was strongly reminded of Dudley.)**

Everyone in the room winced, including Dudley. Judging from they had already heard of Dudley in the books, that was probably the worse insult Harry could ever label somebody with. And that was just what was written in the books, that wasn't their everyday lives, or how school went.

 **("Have you got... earth Quidditch could be.)**

"Oh!" Fred cried dramatically, flopping down in his seat.

"The tragedy! Harry..."

"...Potter not knowing about..."

"...Quidditch! The blasphemy!" The Twins finished together, both of them now flopped dramatically over their seats with their hands over their eyes.

A moment later, they bounced back again, "But it's alright, because our wonderful Head of House rectified that horrible mistake!" They cheered together, holding their arms out and cheering for McGonagal, who just rolled her eyes, well used to their antics.

Those from other Houses who had never quite had the full exposure to Fred and George Weasley that Gryffindor's enjoyed every day in the Common Room, and it showed in the looks on their faces.

McGonagal saw their taken aback expressions, and chuckled. "And here you three thought they were bad in class. They are worse in the Common Room, in class they tone it down out of, how did you two put it?" She asked the twins. "One of you answer, before you break the others." She instructed.

Fred spoke up immediately, since he was always the first to speak anyway, as he was the more outgoing twin, "We do know where the line is at school, and we decided back in first year that we would respect the learning environment and our fellow students, during class. After or between classes, though, that's when the atmosphere is too tense and must be lightened. Besides, in case you haven't noticed, but we never pulled big pranks leading up to exams. The only pranks we pulled that time of year was during exams, and only on people who were done for the day so they had a chance to relax before diving back into studying for the next day." He explained.

Molly looked at them in shock. Then she recovered. "You shouldn't be playing those ridiculous pranks, you should have focused more on your school work." She scolded.

The Twins looked irritated for a moment, "Mum, we like pranks. Other people like our pranks, they make people laugh. We didn't need to focus on school work when we already had plans that had nothing to do with getting a job that required a lot of OWLS or NEWTS."

"What NEWTS?! You dropped out!" Molly cried, standing up with her hands on her hips.

Fred's eyes narrowed, before he reached into his pocket and pulled out an envelope. Throwing it at her. "Our NEWT scores." He said icily. "Which you would already know about if you stopped screeching at us once in awhile about not making anything of ourselves and actually listened to what we want." With that, both Twins turned their backs on their mother and stared at the book, waiting for it to keep reading. Everyone saw how tense their shoulders were.

Molly pulled the parchment out of the envelope as the book kept going and gasped when she saw the results. Arthur stopped her before she said anything though, it was clear the Twins were done talking. The Draco's were in shock, they had thought the Weasley's wouldn't be capable of understanding the concept of not supporting each other.

 **(" _I_ do- Father says it's...** **leave, wouldn't you?")**

"Excuse me, my WIFE happens to be a Hufflepuff." Remus said coolly, his amber eyes glowing slightly.

Both Draco's eyes widened, and he cringed back into his seat.

Professor Sprout, too, was looking at Draco a little coolly, although her gaze was also softened with sympathy, she knew the boy was only repeating the ideas of his father, she saw it all the time.

 **("Mmm," said Harry,...** **he couldn't come in.)**

"Aw, that's nice of you, Hagrid." Molly murmured.

 **("That's Hagrid," said...** **of servant, isn't he?")**

Everyone who liked Hagrid narrowed their eyes, they already didn't like where this was going.

"Malfoy, you better not be going where I think you are going with this." Hermione warned, her eyes narrowed and her fists clenched. Draco flinched and eyed her clenched fists wearily.

 **("He's the gamekeeper,"... less every second.)**

Draco fidgeted a little.

 **("Yes, exactly. I heard... up setting fire to his bed.")**

Hagrid turned red and muttered that that had been once, and wasn't even his fault. Remus went red too and muttered some apologies for that incident on Sirius and James behalf.

"Draconius Malfoy." Snape said quietly, his eyes narrowed dangerously. Both Draco's paled slightly. "I have not taught you to say whatever you like about whoever you like, especially in public like that. And I know your father taught you better than that as well." He leaned over so he could speak more quietly with his boys, shooting a look at Lupin who cast a muffling spell around himself so he wouldn't hear their conversation. "I know you try to please your father, and I know he taught you that people like Hagrid and Muggleborns aren't worth your time or respect, but remember what I told you about keeping an open mind to those that are different, about treating those around you with respect no matter their station in life. Don't use my treatment of Potter as an example," He interrupted when Draco opened his mouth. "I know I was wrong, and petty, and didn't always act respectfully. This is a case of 'do as I say, not as I do', as the Muggles put it."

Both Draco's nodded slowly.

 **("I think he's brilliant," said Harry coldly.)**

Hagrid smiled. "Thanks, 'arry." He said softly, looking down the hallway where Harry was with Sirius and his younger self.

 **(" _Do_ you?" said the boy...** **_our_ kind, weren't they?")**

" _Our_ kind? Aren't we all wizards and witches?" _Hermione_ asked.

Hermione shifted. "Yes, but Pure-bloods don't always see it that way. All they see is our Muggle parentage." She said slowly. _Hermione_ looked scandalized, and started to say something, but Neville interrupted.

"It didn't start out that way. The prejudice against Muggleborns started when the Ministry started changing laws and banning sacred rituals and practices, all to make the image of the Wizarding World better for the Muggleborns. Actually, I think what happened was a couple of Muggleborns were really high up in the Ministry and they didn't like those rituals, I think they were still, even after years of being in the Wizarding world, trying to impose their Muggle customs on the Wizarding world. It just... became an issue of blood supremacy later, I think Grindlewald might have started it?" Neville looked questioningly at Draco, the only other Pure-blood in the room who actually grew up a proper Pure-blood, to his knowledge anyway.

Draco nodded. "Basically, yeah. Our dislike of Muggleborns started when they tried forcing the customs and beliefs of the Muggles on the rest of the wizarding world instead of adapting and adopting the customs of the new society they were part of. They expected us to give up centuries of traditions and our heritage as wizards simply because they didn't like some of it. But yeah, I think Grindlewald is the one who REALLY made it about blood supremacy. There were, of course, still those families that held to the belief of blood supremacy for centuries before Grindlewald ever came around, but... they were quieter about it, socially and publicly."

"Why on earth don't they teach this stuff in History of Magic instead of countless goblin rebellions?" Ron asked, staring between Draco and Neville.

Both of them shrugged. Hermione frowned, "You know, maybe we need a class on wizarding customs, for the Muggleborns. Make it mandatory for first through third years, optional past that. And maybe make Muggle Studies required for Pure-blood first years? That way, Muggleborns know more about where the Pure-bloods are coming from, and the Pure-bloods can understand us better too." She suggested slowly. McGonagal nodded approvingly.

"That used to be how it was set up, I don't remember what or when it changed though..." She said thoughtfully. Moody nodded and made another note on his parchments.

 **("They were a witch...** **your surname, anyway?")**

"Draco." Snape said lowly. Draco nodded, looking everywhere but the two Hermione's. Well, more like Hermione, _Hermione_ had yet to live through the prejudice, while Hermione now had the prejudice carved into her arm.

"That sounded like your father speaking." Sprout said. "What's your opinion?" She asked shrewdly.

Draco shrugged. "Personally, I have absolutely no problem with Muggleborns, as long as they take the time to really learn about wizarding customs and traditions instead of trying to force their Muggle ones on us. And I'm not talking about reading about them, Granger. Those books are Ministry approved and censured. Your not going to find the truth in them. If you do, however, want to read about it so badly, Longbottom, Potter, and Lord Black all have massive family libraries, I'm sure one of them will have the original, uncensored versions of the books somewhere. But either way, the only way to truly understand something, is to experience it yourself or debate about it with somebody who grew up that way, practicing those traditions and customs. After all, there are subtle nuances to everything that can't be quite captured by books."

Both Hermione's looked thoughtful as they nodded. They didn't like the digs he kept taking at her love for books though.

Sprout turned to _Draco_ , but he just shrugged. Honestly, he didn't know what to believe. On the one hand, he really wanted to please his father, and his father said they were scum who didn't deserve the gift of magic. On the other hand, Uncle Severus taught him to treat everybody with respect, that blood didn't matter. After all, Uncle Severus was half-blood, and he could beat his father in a duel with his eyes closed, and his father was pureblood.

 **(But before Harry... from the footstool.)**

Draco frowned. "I suppose I didn't leave the best first impression, did I?" He mused.

"True friendships are not made by making fun of others or flaunting wealth." Luna said wisely. Draco cocked his head to the side and thought about what she said, he did have to admit that he did a bit of both those things in his first conversation with Harry.

 **("Well, I'll see...** **"Nothing," Harry lied.)**

"I really hate it when he says that." Hermione said with a scowl.

"Tell me about it." Ron grumbled.

 **(They stopped to buy... "Hagrid, what's Quidditch?")**

"Words I can't believe just came out of Harrikins mouth, Forge." Fred muttered to his twin.

"Agreed Gred."

 **("Blimey, Harry, I keep...** **fer a sister!")**

"That is very true." Draco muttered, glaring hatefully at Petunia. She was the very definition of everything he was raised to believe about Muggles in general.

Neither Petunia even noticed him glaring, they were too busy bristling over the comment about her, they were smart enough to keep quiet though, the Freak wasn't in the room to keep the rest of these freaks in line, and they didn't think he would bother to keep them in line in the future anymore either. Not after he learned about the stipend she kept and spent on herself and her family.

 **("So what _is_ Quidditch?")**

"Finally," Fred muttered.

"The question has been asked." George finished.

Everybody was getting worried, those two had been oddly subdued since the little argument with their mother.

 **("It's our sport... explain the rules.")**

"No it isn't!" All the Quidditch fanatics (every Gryffindor and the Draco's) in the room yelled, looking offended at the very thought, while Hagrid muttered something nobody could quite catch.

 **("And what are...** **lot o' duffers, but-")**

"I hate house stereotypes." Remus grumbled.

 **("I bet I'm in...** **-Who was one.")**

"Whoa, hey! That does not make the rest of us evil! There are a few down in the dungeons with... interesting ideas, I will grant you that, but you can't just lump us together like that because of one person!" Draco yelled. While most of the time he would be taking advantage of that stereotype, today his father wasn't here. He could speak his mind. And he was sick and tired of all Slytherins being portrayed as evil just because they were in the House of Snakes.

"Sorry," Hagrid muttered.

"Malfoy, that one is more of a... personal experience, for Hagrid." Hermione said quietly.

"Although, I, and I cannot believe I am saying this, agree... with Malfoy. Not all those who are evil come from Slytherin. Just look at Pettigrew. He was a Gryff, some of those snatchers I ran into after Christmas, one of them was a Hufflepuff a couple years above us." Ron said. The others nodded in agreement.

 **("Vol-, sorry- You-Know-Who was at Hogwarts?")**

Hagrid's face darkened.

 **("Years an' years ago,"...** **on some of these.)**

When everyone looked at Dudley, he just shrugged, he didn't know, he hadn't seen the books yet.

 **(Hagrid almost had...** **how to curse Dudley.")**

Dudley flinched. "I deserved that."

A few people nodded in agreement. Yes, yes he did.

 **("I'm not sayin' that's...** **gold cauldron, either)**

"Thank you, Hagrid." Snape muttered. Then he started muttering to himself about dunderheads who insisted on bringing in gold cauldrons, when he specifically stated on his equipment lists, pewter. There was a reason why he wanted pewter, why could they not understand that?

 **(("It says pewter on yer list"),)**

"For good reason." Snape said with a scowl.

 **(but they got a... ingredients for Harry,)**

Snape groaned, "You never ask for a basic supply, you always gather them yourself from the shelves. If they know you are a student, they will give you the lowest quality ingredients they can get away with and still charge you the same as they would if they were actually of good quality. That, and, instead of buying the kits, its actually cheaper to gather your own from the shelves." Snape lectured the younger kids. They all nodded. "Especially you." He said, pointing to _Hermione. "_ They will charge you more simply because you are Muggle-born and won't know the difference." Her eyes widened and she opened her mouth, "Yes, it is unfair, but the world isn't fair." He said, annoyed.

She slowly closed her mouth.

 **(Harry himself examined...** **yeh a birthday present.")**

A few people smiled, remembering what Harry said earlier about Hedwig being a birthday present from Hagrid.

 **(Harry felt himself go red...** **mail an' everythin'.")**

"You said you wouldn't get him a cat because YOU didn't like them, but what if Harry actually did want a cat?" Hermione asked with her eyebrows raised.

"But, he was happy with Hedwig." Ron said, confused where she was going with this.

"I know that, Ronald, but what if Harry had wanted a cat? You can't just pick a present for somebody based on what YOU would like, you pick them based on what you think THEY will like." Hermione said, slightly annoyed.

"Hermione, what's done is done. Harry was happy with Hedwig, you can't keep constantly trying to change those around you, alright? That's a habit you have fallen into, sometimes you just need to let people be." Remus said gently. Hermione huffed but sat back again in her seat.

 **(Twenty minutes later,... head under her wing.)**

"She flew over and landed on his shoulder almost as soon as we walked in the door." Hagrid said with a large grin on his face. "Almost like she was waitin' on 'im."

Hermione smiled, "Knowing Hedwig, she probably was." A few people chuckled at that. Yes, Hedwig was extremely intelligent and loyal owl.

 **(He couldn't stop... Professor Quirrel.)**

"Ugh, why did he have to compare himself to that moron?" Ron groaned. Hermione shrugged. She didn't know what went on in Harry's head, his head was a strange place after all.

 **("Don' mention it,"...** **really looking forward to.)**

Ollivander smiled. "That's the part everybody looks forward to the most." He said softly. "Even the children who grew up surrounded by magic and stealing their parents wands every chance they got." He chuckled.

 **(The last shop was...** **with some secret magic.)**

"He can feel it." Ollivander whispered. A few of the other adults looked shocked as well. "He can feel the magic."

"Harry mentioned earlier that he could feel magic," Ginny said, "But what does that mean?"

"It means, Miss Weasley, that Mr. Potter is magic sensitive, which is a rare and powerful gift. Those who are magic sensitive are more in tune with their innate magic than others, and with time they can learn to pull magic from the environment around them, in times where they themselves are low on energy, such as during a fight. It also means that Mr. Potter himself is very powerful magically. Even if I am sure none of you have been able to see just how strong since he seems to not use it." Ollivander frowned at the thought of such potential being ignored.

Everybody else looked impressed.

 **("Good afternoon," said... off the spindly chair.)**

"I'm surprised that chair took his weight at all." Ron muttered. Hermione slapped his arm. "What?" He asked, looking over to find her glaring at him while everyone else seemed amused, like they could see where he was going with that comment. "That chair isn't exactly sturdy, and Hagrid isn't exactly small! He's half-giant!" He defended.

Hermione narrowed her eyes at Ron and was about to say something when Remus sent a light stinging hex her way and looked at her warningly.

"It's alrigh', 'Mione, I know what he means." Hagrid said, bewildered about the big deal she was making out of it. Honestly, he wasn't offended. Frankly, he was surprised too when the chair held his weight.

Ron studied Hermione for a moment before he sighed and pulled her into a side-hug, telling her that Harry would be alright, Sirius and Hedwig were with him. Suddenly everyone understood. She was snappy because she was worried.

 **(An old man was...** **wand for charm work.")**

"You remember that?" _Hermione_ asked, amazed.

"I remember every wand I have ever made and sold. They are my pride and joy, after all." Ollivander said.

 **(Mr. Ollivander moved... were a bit creepy.)**

"Agreed." Most of the younger generation from both timelines agreed, glancing over at Ollivander, who just shrugged.

 **("Your father, on the... the wizard, of course.")**

He nodded in agreement with himself and muttered about idiots who thought they were above that and make whatever wand they wanted work whether the wand wanted to work for them or not.

Because there were some idiots who thought unicorn hair wasn't dignified or powerful enough for them, so they absolutely HAD to get phoenix feather. Well, he was sorry, but it didn't work that way. That persons core didn't work with phoenix feather, it worked with unicorn hair.

 **(Mr. Ollivander had...** **a long, white finger.)**

Molly made a strangled noise but didn't say anything, she just looked disapprovingly at Ollivander.

 **("I'm sorry to... the world to do...")**

Hermione frowned, "It wasn't the wands fault, it was Riddle's for choosing what to do with it, it was the people around him who kept making him go back there every summer instead of figuring out something else, maybe if they had just shown him a different way..." She trailed off and Ron put an arm around her shoulders again.

Merlin only knew how many discussions they had with Harry over how similar their childhoods seemed, how Harry would have probably turned out the same way if he hadn't met Ron and Hermione, made friends...

A few people gave them looks, but they ignored it.

 **(He shook his head...** **Mr. Ollivander, suddenly stern.)**

Ollivander sighed and angrily muttered about Ministry idiots destroying something that was an extension of a person's core. Their very being.

 **("Er- yes, they did,...** **tightly as he spoke.)**

Hagrid shifted in his seat and reached under his coat to grip that same umbrella, Ollivander just sighed while everyone else shook their heads fondly or snickered.

 **("Hmmm," said Mr...** **and round his head.)**

"What's that for?" _Hermione_ asked curiously.

"It measures the person's magical core, so I have an idea where I can start when I give them wands to try." Ollivander explained. Everybody blinked, they didn't know that, they just assumed it to be something Ollivander did to distract and keep excited children still.

 **(As he measured, he... another wizard's wand.")**

"You got that right." Neville muttered, remembering his time using his fathers old wand until it broke at the end of his fifth year.

 **(Harry suddenly realized...** **give it a wave.")**

"Not it." Harry's school friends and the rest of the Weasley's muttered.

 **(Harry took the wand...** **back by Mr. Ollivander.)**

"How do you know its not the right one?" _Hermione_ asked.

Ollivander smiled. "I can tell by the expression on their face, and the reaction of their core. The wand and the core will connect, and even the most emotionless of faces will display all the joy the person is feeling when their wand and their core forge that connection." He said happily.

"You can see a person's core?" Draco asked, surprised.

"Yes, much like Miss Lovegood here can see creatures of magic, creatures that most others can't see, much like you cannot see a Thestral unless you see death." Ollivander said, gesturing at the girl.

"What?" Hermione asked, surprised. She always insisted that those creatures of Luna's didn't exist. After all, they were in none of the books she had ever read about creatures.

Luna nodded, "This room is surprisingly absent of Nargles." She said with her head cocked to the side.

 **("No, no- here,...** **he seemed to become.)**

"Of course, I like a good challenge, and Mr. Potter was particularly challenging." He said happily.

Remus smiled. All that meant to him, was that Harry was rather powerful. After all, the wand may choose the wizard, but some wands couldn't channel too much power that some wizards had, so it was even harder for them to find the right wand.

 **("Tricky customer, eh?... inches, nice and supple.")**

"That's the one." Ron murmured, looking satisfied.

Hermione nodded. "He never was able to make that other wand work, he always said it didn't like him." She looked sheepish. "I should have listened instead of insisting he just needed to practice with it more, I forgot about the wand not working with a wizard it doesn't 'choose'."

Only Remus caught the satisfied look in Dumbledore's eyes.

 **(Harry took the wand. He felt a sudden warmth in his fingers.)**

Ollivander smiled again. "That is the wand connecting with your core." He said.

 **(He raised the wand...** **"Curious... curious...")**

"What's curious?" A few people asked. Only Dumbledore, Snape and the remaining Trio knew what it was aside from Ollivander.

 **("Sorry," said Harry, "But _what's_ curious?")**

A few people nodded in question with his question, while a few teachers had the stray thought that he was curious, way too curious for their health and sanity.

Especially when that curiosity tended to land him in the hospital wing.

 **(Mr. Ollivander fixed...** **gave you that scar.")**

"What?" A few people yelled. They turned to Ron and Hermione, who just shrugged and nodded.

"Oddly enough, the phoenix in question also happens to be Fawkes, so..." Hermione said with a shrug. It didn't matter to them that Harry's wand shared a core with Voldemort's, all it meant to them was that Harry had that little bit of extra protection.

 **(Harry swallowed.** **"Yes,... terrible, yes, but great.")**

"Excuse me?" Moody narrowed his eyes at the old wand-maker.

"You have to admit, Mad-eye, the magic he did was amazing. Most of it pure evil and hardly any of it any good at all, but the magic feats themselves, the power they would have taken..." Hermione said. Ron nodded.

Moody narrowed his eyes at the two of them too, but even he had to nod in agreement that if you looked at the magic itself, it was quite amazing what Voldemort did.

Dumbledore did not look happy at all that they thought any of that.

 **(Harry shivered. He wasn't...** **train leaves," he said.)**

Hermione narrowed her eyes, "What train? The Hogwarts Express won't leave for another month." She asked Hagrid.

He shifted uncomfortably, "I was told to send him back to the Dursley's after we were done shopping, I was told it was safest for him there." He muttered.

"You sent him back there, even after hearing them saying that they tried to stamp the magic out of him?" Molly asked incredulously.

"I was told ter send him back, I didn't know what else ter do." Everyone could tell that Hagrid was extremely uncomfortable, he wasn't very happy that he had to send Harry back to the Dursley's either, but he just didn't know where else to send him.

"Its safest for him with his relatives." Dumbledore insisted. "Don't worry, when we are out of these rooms, I will pay them another visit, although I'm sure it won't be necessary by the time we are finished with these books."

"Professor, for you to 'pay another visit', you would have had to ever visit in the first place." Ron muttered.

 **(He bought Harry a...** **quiet," said Hagrid.)**

"Course, he's always quiet." Hagrid said with a shrug.

Ron and Hermione nodded. It was very true.

 **(Harry wasn't sure...** **night my parents died.")**

"I know now." Came a hoarse, slightly dead sounding voice from behind everyone. They all turned around to see both Harry's, with Hedwig winging in the room in front of them, and Sirius following along behind. All four of them looked a little singed. But what got everyone was the look in the boys eyes.

They looked... dead. All the life they were used to seeing in their eyes was gone. They all knew Harry as a pretty laid back, fun loving guy who tried to enjoy life as much as possible. Now, there was none of that present.

Seems that, finding out that all these years, they had been stolen from, and then had that same wealth thrown in their faces time and time again by the only remaining blood he had left as something he didn't have a right to... it seemed to have broken something in Harry. _Harry_ too, to a lesser extent.

"I hear what happened that night every time I see a Dementor, and in my sleep." Harry continued, frowning slightly, still looking dead and hollow.

Sirius guided the boys back to their couch, pausing only long enough to wrap them up tight and hand them their stuffed animals before positioning himself between them and wrapping an arm around each of them. He looked worried, and he exchanged looks with Remus and Twins, as well as the rest of the Trio, pleading for their help in getting his godson back to his normal, loving (and slightly jaded in Harry's case) self.

The Draco's and Snape looked disturbed by what they saw, while everyone else looked pitying, while trying to hide it of course. They all resolved to do everything they could to snap the two boys out of this.

 **(Hagrid leaned across...** **fine. Just be yerself.)**

"Its very hard to be yourself when everybody is expecting you to be somebody else. They don't even know me..." Harry muttered.

 **(I know it's hard... do, 'smatter of fact.")**

Hagrid grinned. "That I do."

Ron and Hermione grinned too, even Harry managed to force a weak smile, "We had fun too, in between everything always happening." Ron said.

 **(Hagrid helped Harry** **... See yeh soon, Harry.")**

Hagrid frowned. "I never did get a message." He said, glancing at Harry, who just shrugged.

 **(The train pulled...Hagrid had gone.)**

Hermione frowned. "Hagrid, did you ever tell him how to get on the platform, and the books just didn't mention it?" She asked slowly, watching as Hagrid turned slowly red under his beard. Her and nearly everyone else groaned.

"It's alright, I got on the train just fine." Harry said dully, now staring at the floor.

The Weasley's tried to smile at him, but he never looked up.

"I think it best that we take a break, there was a lot in that chapter to process." Sirius said firmly.

"Oh, yes! I can take care of the boys if you want to..." Molly began, with the rest of the Weasley's palms meeting their faces.

"No," Sirius interrupted, scowling at her, "I can take care of MY godson." With that, Arthur pulled Molly into the kitchen, saying that she would get started on lunch. She would let people know when there was food, so they could come get it whenever they were hungry.

With that, everyone started making their way out of the room, with Mr. Ollivander being the last to go. "Lord Black, I have your wand finished." He said as he held the Applewood and Phoenix feather wand out to him. An unusual combination, for an unusual man.

Sirius reluctantly pulled his arm away from Harry to reach for his new wand, smiling despite himself as he felt it connect to his core. He nodded his thanks to Ollivander before putting his wand away in its holster and going back to holding his godson. He waited until Ollivander was gone before he began to talk.


	8. The Journey from Platform 9 34

_**Parselmouth**_

 _Sign language_

Warning, there is slight Molly Weasley bashing in this chapter. Will explain why at the end.

* * *

 _With that, everyone started making their way out of the room, with Mr. Ollivander being the last to go. "Lord Black, I have your wand finished." He said as he held the Applewood and Phoenix feather wand out to him. An unusual combination, for an unusual man._

 _Sirius reluctantly pulled his arm away from Harry to reach for his new wand, smiling despite himself as he felt it connect to his core. He nodded his thanks to Ollivander before putting his wand away in its holster and going back to holding his godson. He waited until Ollivander was gone before he began to talk._

"Boys, I know that this was a shock, but you have to remember. You still have me, you have Remus, Ron, Hermione. The rest of the Weasley's, even Snape I think. He appears to hate Petunia even more than he hates us. You even have Dudley now. It didn't look like he knew anything about it." Sirius said softly.

"I know, Siri, its just. I've made excuses for them for years. They didn't have to take me in, I inconvenience them, they could have just sent me to an orphanage, but instead they were generous and kept me." Harry said quietly, he sounded hollow.

"Now to find out that they were being paid... they wouldn't have kept me if it wasn't for the money, would they?" _Harry_ continued.

Sirius sighed. "I don't know pups, I just don't know. But what I do know, is that you are not alone. Remember the people you have around you now." He pulled the boys against himself tighter. He cleared is throat and started to sing softly, it was an old Muggle song Lily taught him, she used to sing it to Harry all the time when he got fussy and nothing else worked. For some reason, Sirius singing it always calmed him down faster than if Lily sang it though.

* * *

Fred and George herded the younger teens and kids down the hall until they finally stopped inside a room that looked strangely like the Gryffindor common room. The Draco's looked around curiously.

All the adults had gone off by themselves, probably to talk about what they were learning and for the futures to discuss the outlines of a plan for those from the past to take once these books were done. They obviously couldn't come up with a full plan right now, they were only five chapters into the first book.

Bill and Charlie had taken Percy off somewhere, probably to have that talk they'd wanted to have with him since they arrived. They were probably just going to yell at him a lot for abandoning his family and hurting their parents. Meanwhile, Fred and George with left with all those younger than them.

They were mainly making sure Ron and Hermione didn't try to barge in on the Harry's and Sirius, trying to help but just making things worse. Fred and George knew the two of them meant well, but sometimes they were a little too... pushy. They just didn't seem to understand the concept of wanting space.

They had overheard Hermione tell Harry once, after Sirius died, that the books all said it would help to talk about it to someone. What she didn't seem to understand was that Harry didn't want to talk. So, she kept pushing and pushing for him to talk, but all it did was push him further and further away until she finally let it go. She only let it go when they took her aside and told her to give him his space, because you couldn't make someone talk if they didn't want to. That just did more damage than good. He would talk if and when he was ready.

She tried to argue that she just wanted to help, he couldn't just keep it bottled up, it wasn't healthy. Until they finally lost their patience and snapped back that she wasn't his mother. She wasn't a mind-healer. She was a friend, who had her head too far into her books. Sometimes, books and real life didn't match up. She wouldn't talk to them for a week after that, but they noticed that she did lay off on Harry.

"I don't understand." Dudley said.

"Understand what?" Fred asked. The Draco's looked a little disturbed at seeing Fred and George Weasley, the Twin Terrors or Hogwarts, so serious looking.

"Well, he knows how mom and dad feel about him. They see him as a burden, always have. He knows they don't care. So, why is this affecting him so much?" Dudley asked.

"That's just it." George said.

"I think, that on some level,"

"Some part of him."

"He believes they do care."

"That they did take him out of a..."

"... sense of family, rather than an obligation..."

"...that they had no choice in." George finished.

"One of you! Please." _Dudley_ said, holding his head.

"Sorry, we don't even realize we do it." Fred said.

"Yeah, it's just such a habit." George agreed.

"But, anyway, Harry doesn't talk about his home life much, if ever. But there was one time... I forget how the topic even came up." Fred looked at his twin questioningly. He shook his head, he didn't remember either. "Ok, well, anyway. Something was said, and Harry went off on how his aunt and uncle didn't have to keep him. They could have just dropped him at an orphanage or something."

"To him, that was proof that they did care. That they kept him despite not wanting him. Now, to find out they only kept him because they were getting money out of it..." George said. "From what he says, when he was younger, he was always trying to prove to them that he could be good, that he wasn't a burden, that they could be proud of him like they were of you. Somehow though, nothing he did was ever good enough, until he finally just, stopped trying."

"Why do you sound like you are speaking from experience?" Draco asked suddenly.

The Twins looked at each other. "All of you have already seen mom's reaction to our pranking and jokes. She was always disappointed that we didn't do better academically. She seemed to think we just didn't try hard enough. The truth is, we never saw the point. We had other plans, plans that didn't involve schooling. Obviously, we know the material inside and out, and then some. How else could we make the stuff we do?"

"We just didn't bother with homework beyond having something to turn in so we didn't get more detentions than we had to. And we didn't really study for OWL's either because we were busy with creating a business plan for our shop, figuring out what we wanted to sell, what we would need to test with the Hogwarts population before we left school, testing most of our products on ourselves before deeming them safe to test on others..."

"None of that really left much time for studying. We did study some,"

"But only because mom would have really blown up if we didn't get at least three OWL's each. She already wasn't happy that three each is what we actually ended up getting."

"Well, why didn't you explain all this to her?" _Draco_ asked. He was confused.

"We tried." Both twins said together.

Fred continued, "She didn't want to hear about two of her sons opening a joke shop. She had big plans for us. We were going to go into the Ministry, we were going to work our way up, eventually get into well paying positions, and bring some honor back to our family name. She said that was a respectable job."

George snorted. "If it was such a respectable place to work, they wouldn't pay dad less than they do the Magical Maintenance crew. Like we would want to work somewhere where they put dad down like that just because he happens to be fascinated with how Muggles live without magic?"

"We gave up years ago, trying to make her proud of us. Trying to make her see, that this is us. The pranks, making people laugh, that's who we are. We just weren't made for some desk job. We just can't get her to see that."

"We thought that she would back off, and finally see what we've been trying to tell her when she saw the shop, but if anything it only made things worse." Fred said sadly. "Who's up for some exploding snap? I don't know when Sirius is going to let us back in to read." He said suddenly and brightly, clapping his hands together. He had decided that that was enough with the depressed attitudes.

None of them saw Molly at the doorway, listening to the whole conversation.

She swallowed and turned away from the door, leaning against the wall beside it with tears in her eyes. Did she really do that? She looked back and debated asking her Twins for a word, but had a feeling that now wouldn't be the right time. She should probably talk to Arthur about it too, he always seemed to understand the boys better. Then again, when did she really try?

She decided that she should get some lunch around in the meantime.

* * *

As soon as Sirius dismissed everyone so he could make sure his godsons were alright, it must have been their idea to come back against his better judgement, the other professors cornered Severus before he could escape.

His own godsons had already been herded away with the other teens and children by the Twin Terrors. Which meant he had no shield or excuse not to go with them.

They had tried to corner him a few times now since they got here, but he'd managed to avoid them so far. He sighed as he let them lead him to a far away room. Once they were in, they turned to him with unreadable expressions. He winced internally.

"What really happened? Just which side are you really on?" Minerva finally asked, her eyes narrowed like the cat she could turn into. He figured that she was having a very hard time figuring him out. On the one hand, his behavior the past couple of days was what she expected of him from the past fifteen years they worked together. Completely different from his behavior the past year when he was supposed to be a loyal Death Eater. On the other hand, he killed Albus, proving his loyalty to the Dark Lord.

He sighed mentally, on the outside he scowled. "Its going to come up in these books anyway, from Harry's point of view. Considering he was there, on the tower that night..." Filius trailed off.

Severus finally sighed in defeat. "Albus was dying. We already knew Draco was tasked to kill him. However, neither of us were willing to let Draco actually go through with it. So, Albus asked me to do it instead. He wanted there to be absolutely no doubt in the Dark Lord's mind whose side I was on, so I could hopefully be able to protect the students."

"Yeah, because you did so much to protect them." Poppy scoffed.

Severus glared at her. "If you haven't noticed, I stepped in where I could. It would have been worse if I wasn't keeping them busy where I could or personally handling detentions where I could." He spat. "Who do you think was keeping the infirmary overstocked with potions, was leaving food and potion supplies where the DA could find them? Was leaving Cruciatus potions in the common rooms when the students weren't allowed to come to you? I did what I could." He hissed. Nobody regretted how much he failed in protecting the students than he did.

He had one job, protect the students. And he couldn't even do that.

"Just be glad the Dark Lord listened to me and sent the Carrows instead of Bellatrix and Rowle." He said. "They were his original choices." They gasped.

The Carrows were bad enough, Bellatrix would have been a nightmare.

"I may be nothing more than a bitter man, but I took my responsibility towards my students very seriously. Nobody knows how much I failed better than I." He said softly.

Finally, Minerva sighed. "You didn't fail. If anything, we failed. We were the ones actually around the students daily."

They were interrupted by a knock on the door, and Remus poked his head in. "Hey, Sirius said we can come back in, and Molly has lunch waiting for us in the Room . Is everything ok here?" They all knew as soon as he asked that, he heard the entire conversation.

"Yes, everything is fine." Pomona said, leaving and heading back to the reading room.

"Just remember, the boy hates pity." Severus said when he saw the women's faces before they went in. They looked at him startled before they nodded and schooled their features.

"Everybody ready to read?" Sirius asked brightly once everyone got food, still holding his boys. They all nodded.

The Harry's still looked a little dead and hollow, but they looked better.

 **Chapter six, The Journey from Platform Nine and Three-quarters**

"Incoming Weasley family!" Ron cheered. He grinned proudly when Harry gave a slight smile.

 **(Harry's last month with the Dursley's wasn't fun.)**

Everyone immediately grew concerned that the Dursley's might have gotten physical with Harry. They had been hoping that Hagrid scared them enough that they wouldn't try anything...

Or maybe Hagrid would have scared them enough that they would take that fear out on Harry.

They leaned forward, wanting to hear what came next but at the same time, not wanting to.

 **(True, Dudley was now... in the same room,)**

"Thank goodness for small miracles." McGonagall muttered.

 **(while Aunt Petunia and... it were empty.)**

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Sure, getting ignored sucked, but it was better than being beaten.

 **(Although this was... depressing after a while.)**

"But it was better than the alternative." Ron muttered to Hermione. She nodded.

 **(Harry kept to his... _A History of Magic._ )**

"You read that?" Ron asked appalled. Hermione beamed.

Molly narrowed her eyes at her youngest son and opened her mouth to berate him for not taking his studies more seriously, when she remembered the conversation she overheard just a little bit ago.

Harry shrugged. "I had nothing else to do, since they weren't making me do my usual chores... and why wouldn't I want to learn about this new world?" He asked dully. Ron made a face at voluntary reading.

 **(His school books were very interesting.)**

"Unfortunately, even if you read those, you would still be lost since the background theory was in the introductory books that didn't know you were supposed to buy." Severus sighed and shot a glare at Dumbledore. So much grief in his classroom could have been avoided if the old man had just included the list and didn't decide he knew better.

The man needed a wake up call that he wasn't all knowing. First he finds out that if Albus had just taken Harry to the goblins instead of deciding the only way to get rid of the Horcrux in Harry's scar was for the boy to die, it would have saved him so much grief. If Albus hadn't decided the prophecy had to be true, and that Harry had to do everything himself, Voldemort might never have risen. If Albus had just shared the information he knew... so many lives wouldn't have been lost.

But no... instead the man decided that only he knew best, that only he could be trusted to do what was best. The man had his word taken as law for far too long, he decided it was time that changed.

He pulled out the letter he had started writing to his younger self. He already had the parts that would convince him that this was real and not a trick, now it would just take adding the important information as they read.

 **(He lay on his bed... back dead mice.)**

Petunia whimpered. She didn't know the filthy bird kept bringing back dead rodents. If she'd known that she would have had Vernon kill her when the boy first brought her home.

She glared at the bird, it was sitting on _Harry's_ lap, staring at her. If she didn't know animals were unintelligent, she would say that the thing looked smug.

 **(Every night before... to September the first.)**

"That's what I did." Hermione, Neville, Luna, and Ginny all said with a shrug.

Dudley turned slightly red. "It was the opposite for me, I counted down the days when school would end and I could go back home where I could do what I wanted. The teachers had this 'annoying' habit of trying to tell me what to do after all. Besides, back home I could eat all I wanted, and go beat up as many kids as I wanted and I wouldn't get into any trouble." He said somewhat bitterly.

 _Dudley_ looked at his older self in awe and fear. Just what happened to change him so drastically.

Snape shook his head. "If your mother heard about how you raised her grandson, she would have put you over her knee in a heartbeat, no matter your age." He said.

Petunia glared at him. "You would know, the amount of time she had YOU over her knee." She spat.

Severus raised an eyebrow at her. "I was put there because I did something stupid and almost got Lily and myself injured. You would be there because you have thrown every value and moral Helen ever taught you growing up out the window. She would be ashamed of you." He didn't really mind too much, Helen was more of a mother to him than his own mother ever was.

All the kids he ever taught were wide eyed at the thought of their scary professor being spanked as a child. Harry swallowed, "Professor?" He asked quietly. Severus swung his gaze to him and raised an eyebrow. "Can you tell me about my mom sometime? Nobody ever mentions her, they always talk about my dad." He said. Severus blinked before he nodded slowly.

"If you behave, I will consider it." He said stiffly. He cuffed the Draco's on the back of their heads when nobody was looking when he noticed them smirking. They knew that meant yes.

 **(On the last day... station the next day,)**

"Wow, talk about last minute." _Hermione_ said with a raised eyebrow. Everyone else was thinking the same with the exception that they knew how ingrained it was for Harry not to ask questions. He'd probably stood at the top of the stairs for awhile trying to talk himself into going down there to ask them.

Harry shrugged, "Didn't want to give them much time to change their minds. Plus, they don't like it when I ask them anything." Harry said.

When _Hermione_ looked to _Harry_ he shrugged like his older counterpart.

 **(so he went down... ran from the room.)**

Hagrid looked ashamed. He had terrified the boy.

Dudley waved it off though, when he tried to apologize. "It was a wake-up call that I needed, the message just didn't sink in until much later." He said.

Hagrid bit is lip but nodded. He still didn't like that he had terrorized the boy, even if the boy was an awful bully at the time.

 **("Er- Uncle Vernon?"...** **he was listening.)**

"He speaks troll!" Fred exclaimed. He kept an eye on the Harry's, and was rewarded with a small grin.

 **("Er- I need to be...** **Vernon grunted again.)**

"You know, my not-as-handsome-as-me brother, I'm beginning to think our little Harrikins might speak troll as well. He must if he grew up having to interpret his troll speaking uncle." George said to much laughter. He too was rewarded for his efforts when the grins got a little wider.

Molly saw what they were doing and was ashamed.

 **("Would it be all...** **that meant yes.)**

"It's confirmed..."

"Harrikins speaks troll!" Fred and George proclaimed grandly.

They grinned proudly when both Harry's snorted in laughter.

 **("Thank you."...** **Vernon actually spoke.)**

"Wait, he's not actually a troll? But he was speaking it so fluently earlier..." Luna said in her typical soft, dreamy 'Luna-voice'.

Harry preferred this Luna to serious Luna.

Molly pursed her lips in slight disapproval, she actually agreed with Luna, but she also felt that to be pushing it slightly as the kind of thing a teenager shouldn't be saying about an adult, although she used the term very loosely when it came to the Dursley's.

Everyone else just laughed. Sirius was now smiling and relaxed again since his boys were already starting to laugh again thanks to the Weasley twins efforts.

 **("Funny way to get... punctures, have they?")**

"Flying carpets are illegal in Britain..." Neville said, looking at Vernon oddly. He was wondering how a Muggle like him would know that flying carpets existed.

"They're classified as a Muggle artifact, and therefore illegal to enchant." Draco picked up.

"Try telling that to India..." Arthur muttered. He STILL, even after Voldemort took over the Ministry, even after he got promoted after Rufus became Minister, he STILL got requests from Indian companies wanting to export product to Magical Britain.

The Dursley's all looked at Neville, Draco, and Arthur in horror (more than they already had been the entire time they were there in the room, the Dudley's looked amazed.) Then they started muttering about perfectly normal objects being corrupted and they would never know it.

 **(Harry didn't say...** **"I don't know,")**

"Hagrid, you didn't give the pamphlet either?" Minerva groaned.

Hagrid blushed, "I gave 'him what I was given. Tha' was 'is letter, nothin' more."

Dumbledore got a few more dirty looks.

 **(said Harry, realizing this for the first time.)**

"Wow, you didn't really think about where you were going, did you?" _Hermione_ asked.

"I was more worried about getting away from that house. I didn't really care where I went." Harry muttered.

"Now, Harry, that is your home, surely you can't want to leave it that badly?" Dumbledore asked worriedly. If Harry no longer called the place home, then he was no longer protected there.

"That place has never been 'home' to me, Headmaster. It's been my prison." Harry said coldly.

Dumbledore gulped lightly, especially when _Harry_ nodded his agreement. That meant that Harry had never been as safe as he should have been. The wards would have still worked, but they weren't strong enough to keep people from harming Harry while there.

 **(He pulled the ticket...** **aunt and uncle stared.)**

"Why, what's wrong now?" Draco asked, confused. It was just a train platform.

"In the Muggle world, 9 3/4 doesn't exist, they don't use fractions on train platforms." Hermione said. "It threw my parents off when Professor McGonagall mentioned it too."

"But Petunia knows about 9 3/4, she's been there with myself and Lily." Severus said coldly, glaring at her. Petunia sniffed primly. Both Vernon's stared at their respective wife uncertainly. He knew she didn't like to talk about her sister, or really even acknowledge her sister or magic existed, but... she was there.

He shook himself. Magic was unnatural. It shouldn't exist. If she didn't want to talk about her experience with such unnaturalness, that was her business.

 **("Platform what?"** **"Nine...** **"It's on my ticket.")**

"Which Petunia knows..." Severus muttered. Petunia glared at him this time.

 **("Barking,")**

"No, I'm barking." Sirius said... seriously. Almost everybody groaned at the bad joke.

 **(said Uncle Vernon, "howling mad,)**

"No, I'm howling mad." Remus said with a straight face. Everybody groaned again.

Nobody noticed Sirius and Remus high-five around _Harry._

The Dursley's just looked at them strange. (More than normal.)

 **(the lot of them...** **keep things friendly.)**

"Why?" Several people asked incredulously.

Harry shrugged. "It was the first civil conversation I ever had with either of them, not for lack of trying on my part mind you, and the first human interaction I'd had in a month.

He missed the dark looks that were exchanged.

 **("Taking Dudley to the hospital,")**

The adults all winced. "Hagrid, you should have mentioned it to me so I could have gone to reverse it. I wouldn't have gotten you in trouble, but this could have caused a massive Secrecy breach." Minerva told her giant friend gently.

Hagrid flushed red again, but nodded his understanding.

 **(growled Uncle Vernon...** **go back to sleep.)**

"Me too!" Hermione said happily.

Several of the adults were just happy to have a decidedly age appropriate response to something from Harry. Sometimes, the kid acted way too mature for his age.

 **(He got up and... change on the train.)**

"Oh, thank goodness." Arthur and Moody sighed in relief. Sirius did too, he had his share of shifts watching the train station on September first when he was still an Auror.

"Every year we have several Muggleborns go out in full uniform, which causes enough scenes with the Muggles that we have to get the Obliviator squad out there to modify memories." Arthur explained.

Hermione flushed red, she was one of the Muggleborns wearing her uniform to the train station. She was excited!

 **(He checked his Hogwarts... into the Dursley's car,)**

"With me probably killing my back to get it in there while Uncle Vernon stood there and laughed." _Harry_ said bitterly. Harry didn't say anything, he just closed his eyes and leaned against Sirius, which was all the confirmation they needed.

 **(Aunt Petunia had talked... had set off.)**

"How much sugar and trips to the movies did she promise you, again? Plus new video games and a new computer. Despite your old one only being a few months old." Harry said with a raised eyebrow.

Dudley turned red, "Shut up, Harry." He muttered.

Mrs. Figg grimaced, "I could hear him kicking up a fuss from my living room, and I live a couple of streets over." She muttered.

 **(They reached King's Cross... station for him.)**

A few people frowned, " ** _He's being nice. Its not good when he's being nice."_** _Harry_ hissed nervously. He fidgeted.

Harry grimaced. " ** _This was one of the better times, though that's probably only because we were in such a public place."_** He hissed back.

Neither of them noticed the adults muttering about how this couldn't be good. They had noticed that the boys only switched to Parseltongue when they didn't want anyone else to know about something, and Harry never told them anything about his home life because he didn't want them to know.

 **(Harry thought this... grin on his face.)**

"Uh-oh." Was heard throughout the room. This couldn't be good.

 **("Well, there you are,... yet, do they?")**

Draco narrowed his eyes (in a manner scarily similar to Severus) and said coldly, "There is such a thing called Magic. You don't honestly think we would have something like that out in the open, did you?" He asked scathingly.

"You know Petunia, I don't think your mother would have found a spanking to be enough." Severus mused, his eyes glittering. She was standing there, letting her husband torment a child over something she knew did, in fact, exist. All she had to do was tell him to walk through a stone pillar. She didn't even have to stay, just shove him towards the pillar and tell him to walk.

She glared at him even harder. She would never say anything, but all his talk about her parents being ashamed of her actions was starting to get to her.

 **(He was quite right,...** **without another word.)**

Jaws dropped.

"He just left you there? An eleven year old boy in a crowded train station, with luggage and an owl, and no idea where to go, and he just left you there." Molly said faintly. Arthur wrapped an arm around her.

Everyone was staring at the Harry's, so they just shrugged.

They also decided to not mention all the times he was just abandoned with Mrs. Figg, or all the times he was abandoned at school even if he was literally in the process of opening the door when Aunt Petunia drove away, and then had to walk the twenty miles home, only to arrive and find a longer-than-normal list of chores that had to be done before Uncle Vernon got home from work within the next hour or two.

His punishment for not having them done on time was always more severe than normal. Those were the few times he was actually hit, and it was always painful.

Mrs. Figg caught the boys eyes and she didn't say anything either.

 **(Harry turned and saw... them were laughing.)**

In the next few seconds, the Dursley's hair turned pink, the Vernon's sprouted donkey ears and tail, the Petunia's sprouted antlers, their skin started changing colors like a chameleon, and the only sounds coming out of their mouths were teh sounds of their respective animal. The Dudley's weren't even spared from the color changing skin.

Only the other pranksters, Severus, and Mad-eye saw an entirely too innocent-looking Remus casually putting his wand away with a satisfied smirk on his face.

Severus reflected on that old Muggle saying that it was the quiet ones you had to watch out for the most.

Dudley took his color-changing with good grace, while _Dudley_ was a bit more disgruntled, he didn't voice it though.

 **(Harry's mouth went... to ask someone.)**

The adults winced. The only way this could possibly end well was if he spoke with a teacher stationed there for the purpose of directing Muggleborn families.

Oh wait!

There wasn't one.

Albus refused to station anyone there, saying it was unnecessary.

"I think we need to start stationing a couple of teachers there, regardless of what the Headmaster says. Sure, we tell the Muggle families how to reach it, but its always best to have somebody around just in case..." Minerva said to her colleagues quietly. Severus nodded and added it to his letter.

His letter was two parts. An actual letter, and a bulleted list of stuff young Snape needed to see done.

 **(He stopped a passing... stupid on purpose.)**

"Yes, we will certainly be stationing a teacher or two there." Minerva muttered.

"It might help the Obliviator squads out, too." Arthur muttered to Moody.

 **(Getting desperate, Harry... about time wasters.)**

"Wait, he never once asked you where your parents were? Never asked why you were alone?" Molly asked, indignant.

Harry, predictably, shook his head no. "Its actually pretty common for Muggle parents to let their kids come home on the train by themselves, either from school, or from a relatives house if they were visiting. They trust that the station guards will make sure nothing happens." Hermione explained.

 **(Harry was now trying...** **get into Diagon Alley.)**

"He did." Some people muttered.

"Its not his fault, he was focusing on getting Harry home to his relatives so he could get the Stone to safety with the Headmaster." Luna frowned at the Headmaster. "You really should have retrieved the stone on an earlier date though, so Hagrid only had Harry to concentrate on." She said reproachfully.

 **(He wondered if he... platform's nine and ten.)**

"Don't do that!" A few adults yelped.

Harry smirked slightly. "Don't worry about it, I didn't." He glanced at Molly and the smirk changed into a grin.

 **(At that moment a...** **Muggles, of course-")**

Arthur and Moody sat up quickly, who on earth was stupid enough to speak so loud in a place crowded like that with _Muggles_? That was a potential Breach! Minerva sat up too, this could be really good, or really bad.

 **(Harry swung round... they had an _owl.)_**

Arthur and Moody sank back. Molly had to have had her reasons, she wouldn't risk Secrecy carelessly. Maybe she just wanted to pick up stragglers.

Minerva sank down in her seat with a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Molly." She said.

"I guess coming late came in handy, for once." Bill said fondly. The Weasley's were always late.

Molly smiled. "I'm just happy we could help out."

 **(Heart hammering, Harry...** **said the boys' mother.)**

"Why would you ask that? You know what it is." Sprout asked, confused.

"I also know that there aren't any teachers stationed there. I ask that so that any parents or," She smiled over at Harry, "Lost children, can hear me and know that they can approach me if they are unsure." She'd known Harry was there, she'd seen the lost and desperate look on his face, as well as the owl in her cage.

"Thank you, Molly." Minerva said again. Arthur nodded. That was something Molly would do.

 **("Nine and three-quarters!"... "Mom, can't I go...")**

"Oh, Merlin..." Ginny said as she hid her head in her hands. She just remembered how she acted when the Twins came back and told them who the black-haired kid that they helped was. She so did not want Harry to see her like that, or worse... Bill and Charlie. They would probably try to be all protective big brother on her and try to kill Harry. They had barely accepted it when she told them why Harry had broken up with her.

Harry lifted his head from Sirius's shoulder long enough to smirk at her. She got a sinking feeling that Harry already knew how she acted on the platform.

 **("You're not old enough,...** **boy had vanished.)**

"Wait, where did he go?" _Hermione_ demanded. _Harry_ looked worried, how was his book self supposed to get on the train if he couldn't follow the Weasley's? He couldn't follow them if he couldn't see where they went. The only other option was asking, and he didn't really see himself doing that.

"Just wait, you'll see." Minerva said with a small smile that shocked the Slytherins. They never saw her smile.

 _Hermione_ frowned, but huffed and waited. She didn't want to wait, though!

Hermione watched herself and quietly asked Ron if she was always this impatient to know things. He hesitated, debating the safety of an honest answer before he slowly nodded his head. He watched warily as she frowned, but sighed in relief as she just sat back with a frown on her face.

 **("Fred, you next," the...** **you _tell_ I'm George?")**

At this question, Harry cocked his head to the side and looked at the Twins questioningly. Bill and Charlie sat back and looked at each other in resignation.

Molly caught their looks and wondered what she messed up now.

 **("Sorry, George, dear."**

 **"Only joking, I am Fred,")**

Harry sat up with a gasp and his questioning stare turned demanding. They looked at each other before sighing and nodding at him.

What Harry had just realized, now that he actually knew Fred and George (he was one of the few that could actually tell them apart, along with Bill and Charlie), was that George hadn't been joking about being George when he was really Fred.

Which meant that his question about her not being able to tell them apart wasn't a joke at all. He'd been 100% serious when he asked that. They just let her believe they were joking so their mother didn't feel bad about not being able to tell her own sons apart.

Bill and Charlie looked at each other and sighed. They knew Harry had just figured it out, only people who could actually tell the Twins apart were going to figure it out.

They didn't blame their mother though, she had seven kids to divide her time between after all. It was easier on her with the two oldest out of the house (and country), but that still left five others.

Molly had a really bad feeling about what she messed up with.

 **(said the boy,... had he done it?)**

"Magic." The Weasley's all said, completely deadpan.

Everyone not a Weasley stared at them, and a few even began to inch away from the red-head nearest them.

 **(Now the third...** **else for it.)**

 _Harry_ nodded, so his older self did ask. He figured he must have been desperate, he never asked for anything if he could help it.

"We were wondering when you were going to stop spying on us and finally ask." Fred said cheerfully.

George nodded. "Yup, all of knew you were there, we saw you as we walked up." Arthur nodded. Further confirmation that his wife didn't endanger the entire wizarding population for nothing.

"I was only waiting until you approached us, dear. I would have said something to you if you still hadn't before I went through with Ginny, after sending Ron." Molly said, smiling reassuringly at Harry, who grinned gratefully back.

Everybody was relieved. His smiles were starting to come easier and look more natural again. Now to just get his eyes lively again...

 **("Excuse me," Harry...** **a long nose.)**

"Ugh," Ron said, banging his head on the couch behind him. "Well, I suppose it could have been worse." He said with a sigh.

"Yeah, he could have compared you to an animal." Fred snickered. He was met with a pillow to the face, along with his snickering twin.

"Shut it, you two."

It would have ended in a massive pillow war if Molly, Minerva, and Severus had not all glared at them until they dropped the pillows. It was a mark of how good they were that they didn't have to say a word.

All of them pouted when they put the pillows down, but smiled when they saw Harry muffling his laughter in his blanket.

 **("Yes," said Harry...** **now before Ron.")**

 _Hermione_ and _Harry_ were staring in amazement. _Hermione's_ logical mind was racing to find out how that was possible. _Harry_ was thinking that if this was true, then magic was amazing.

 **("Er- okay," said Harry...** **looked very solid.)**

Harry nodded fervently. It did, he still couldn't he got up the courage to run at something so solid looking.

Hermione grimaced before she nodded too. She agreed there. Her parents had almost taken her home as soon as they saw the very solid looking concrete wall they were expected to run right into.

 **(He started to walk... for the crash-)**

Bill shook his head. Harry really did not know how to think positive.

"Not letting fear control you. That's the mark of a true Gryffindor." Minerva murmured.

"Professor?" Hermione asked.

"People tend to think of bravery as being stupidly unafraid of anything," She eyed Snape, who smirked at her. "But that's not true. True bravery, is being afraid, but not letting that fear control you. Doing what you need to do regardless of the fear." She explained.

The Gryffindor's all grinned while the four Slytherins (Severus, two Draco's, and Moody) all scowled.

 **(It didn't come... he kept on running... he opened his eyes.)**

Both _Harry_ and _Hermione_ sat up straighter and leaned forward a bit. Sirius chuckled lightly and just hoped that he got to see his godson's face when he actually saw it when the time came.

Everyone else who cared was watching the two children in amusement, they loved watching the reactions of those introduced to magic for the first time. Especially the teachers.

 **(A scarlet steam engine... _Three-Quarters_ on it.)**

"Whoa." _Hermione_ breathed, still trying to figure it out.

"I want to see that." _Harry_ muttered. That and Diagon Alley.

Sirius smiled. "You will, Pup. You will." He murmured.

 **(** **He had done it.)**

"That's kind of dramatic." Percy muttered.

"Yeah, Harry can get like that sometimes." Ron answered, ignoring the glare Harry sent his way for the remark.

A few other people snickered.

 **(Smoke from the engine... of heavy trunks.)**

"How do people make sure their animals get on the train with them if they go everywhere like that? I mean, I get the owls, they're in their cages. But what about the cats?" _Hermione_ asked.

"There's a spell on the platform, it automatically places the animals with their owners when its time to get on the train. It also ensures that no animal can be on the platform if their human is already on the train." Flitwick explained. _Hermione's_ eyes lit up, and she would have kept answering questions if Hermione hadn't reached over and held a hand over her mouth.

 **(The first few carriages... my toad again.")**

Neville turned beet red as several of the people around him turned to look at him. He was always losing Trevor!

"Don't worry, he just likes to explore. Besides, the dorms can get too hot for him, it drys out his skin." Luna said reassuringly.

 **("Oh, _Neville,"_ he heard the old woman sigh.)**

Those who hadn't already figured it out turned to look at Neville too. He turned an even deeper shade of red.

 **(A boy with dreadlocks...** **a long, hairy leg.)**

Fred and George started laughing. "I forgot he had that." Fred said.

"Yeah, what happened to it?" George asked.

They missed the satisfied look on Ron's face, and the fact that Harry and Hermione were desperately trying not to laugh or look at Ron.

Although, in his defense, it was an accident.

That he just went with and didn't feel the slightest bit of guilt over. Well, he had, until Harry had helped him get Lee an owl instead. That was the only time he ever asked Harry for help financially.

 **(Harry pressed on through... painfully on his foot.)**

Everyone flinched, as that had happened to them all at some point, even Draco. "Ouch."

 **("Want a hand?" It... through the barrier.)**

Molly smiled proudly. She knew her boys could be very helpful when they found somebody who needed it. No matter how much their pranks and jokes drove her mad. They were still good boys.

Harry smiled too, the Weasley's were the only wizarding family, it seemed like, that didn't try to get in his good graces because of who he was. They wanted to be with him for him, not some title.

 **("Yes, please," Harry...** **of the compartment.)**

"That thing was heavy." Fred muttered to his twin.

"Yeah, especially considering all he had in it was the bare minimum of school supplies." George agreed. They looked at each other and decided to write a letter of their own to their younger selves. _Ron_ could deliver it.

 **("Thanks," said Harry,...** **Harry's lightning scar.)**

"Ugh," Harry groaned. "Thankfully, this was the first and only time any of you treated me like I was different." He muttered.

"What do you mean?" Neville asked.

"The train ride was the only time any of the Weasley's, with the exception of Ginny for a while, treated me as anything other than 'just Harry'. In the beginning, they stared for a bit, but then they got over it and I was just another little firstie." Harry said with a smile.

Ginny went bright red when he mentioned that she was the exception.

The other Weasley's smiled back at Harry. It had been kind of hard to see him as a rich, powerful, and famous wizard when he was dressed in rags and scrawny. They weren't going to tell him that, though.

 **("Blimey," said the...** **yes, I am.")**

Harry went bright red while _Harry_ snickered along with everybody else.

"Very elegant, Harry," Draco snickered.

"Shut up. I wasn't expecting that as soon as I got on the blasted train." Harry muttered, trying to hide his face in his laughing godfather's side, after punching said laughing godfather of course, not that it actually did anything but make him laugh harder.

 **(The two boys... train's open door.)**

"We were actually staring because we didn't expect to find a poorly dressed, scrawny little kid who looked like he could use a few good meals. That, and your reaction to us asking who you were." Fred said with a shrug. George was too busy writing the letter, his hand-writing was better.

"Thanks," Harry muttered, not sure how to feel about that one.

 **("Fred? George?...** **they were saying.)**

Molly, the teachers, and both Hermione's frowned. Before they said anything though, Harry said, "I know, eavesdropping is rude, but they were also the first example of a family I'd ever seen outside Privet Drive and them," he waved vaguely towards his aunt and uncle, "and I wanted to compare." He finished with an unapologetic shrug.

Their frowned deepened, but they decided not to say anything, this time, which made the Harry's and even Dudley sigh in relief. Dudley because he himself had that himself a lot the last year he was at Smeltings before they went into hiding. He had wanted to compare how his parents treated him versus how other parents treated their kids.

He actually found himself wishing his parents were more like the other parents he'd seen.

He'd seen one kid, he was acting up, acting like Dudley used to, when his father turned him and spanked him standing right there in the middle of the hallway in the dorms. But after the punishment, the boy got a hug and a reassurance that he was still loved, but he better never act that way again. And he didn't. Even after his father left.

Dudley had ended up befriending that boy later on and had been able to ask some questions. He wished his parents had actually disciplined him growing up, then maybe...

 **(Their mother had just...** **end of his nose.)**

Arthur winced while his sons snickered at a red Ron. "Molly, dear, we've talked about giving the boys space as they got older, especially in public." He told his wife gently.

She opened her mouth to protest, but Bill cut her off. "Yeah, mom, it may be different with girls, but for a guy to be babied like that in public is downright humiliating. Especially the day you leave for school, that's the day everyone gets their first impression of you." He said with a slight shake to his shoulders, evidence of trying not to laugh.

Molly frowned, but saw how all the boys in the room were snickering at Ron in the book, and decided to think about it. This chapter was giving her a lot to think about.

 **(" _Mom_ \- geroff."...** **one of the twins.)**

"See?" Charlie snickered again. Molly sent an apologetic look at Ron, who smiled at her.

None of the Weasley clan held it against her, they knew that she spent twenty plus years raising seven kids, so she had a bit of a hard time letting them go. As evidenced by how excited she was whenever Bill and Charlie got some vacation time and came home. They tried to coordinate when their vacation times were for a reason, so they could both be home at the same time.

 **("Shut up," said Ron...** **letter _P_ on it.)**

"Uh-oh." Percy muttered, glancing at the Twins warily. He almost forgot about how much they teased him that summer...

 **("Can't stay long, Mother,"...** **we had no idea.")**

"Fred, George..." Bill said quietly and warningly.

They took one look and sheepishly apologized to Percy. Bill was always on them about not going too far or too long with their teasing. It was just so easy to tease Percy, they tended to get carried away with him. Percy graciously accepted their apologies, although he said it wasn't necessary.

Molly blinked, she could never get those two to apologize.

 **("Hang on, I...** **"All summer-")**

Bill frowned at Percy, "And you, need to not flaunt it so much, it only makes you more of a target, as well as unapproachable for the younger students." He said.

Percy turned red. He didn't want to admit it, but Bill was right, none of the kids ever came to him if they could help it, they didn't even listen to him half the time.

 **("Oh, shut up," said Percy the Prefect.)**

The Twins turned to stare at Harry. "Why didn't we think of that?" They demanded.

Harry just shrugged. "Like I said..."

"...earlier, you just..."

"...aren't as awesome." The Harry's said with a shrug and a smirk.

The Twins turned away pouting. Everyone else just either snickered, or scooted away in fear. Severus pinched the bridge of his nose, once again thanking every deity ever worshiped in the history of the planet (even though he only worshiped God) that there was only one Harry Potter. Even if he at the moment had to deal with two of them.

 **("How come Percy... he's a _prefect_.")**

Bill and Charlie flinched. That was so not fair on the younger siblings. They looked around to see their brothers faces closed off. Even _Ron's_. Ginny seemed fine, but then, she didn't have to deal with her mom comparing her to her older brother's as much, and at least her clothes were store-bought second-hand. Perks of being the only girl in the house.

"Mom, please tell me you haven't been throwing our achievements in the Twins face all these years." Bill asked hopefully.

"Of course not!" Molly said defensively. Bill's heart sank when he saw the Twins shift angrily in response.

His mom meant well, and she truly didn't want to hurt her children, she was a good mother... but, Bill supposed, every parent had their faults.

 **(said their mother fondly... up a toilet or-")**

All the Heads of House and Madam Pomfrey all groaned. "Molly, you just gave them ideas." Minerva said with her face in her hands.

"That's where the toilet seat idea came from..." Madam Pomfrey muttered.

"You never give a prankster ideas." Remus and Sirius said together with grins on their faces.

"Especially don't give them ideas while your telling them not to do something." The Harry's continued with a sly smirk on their faces.

"Yeah, you never know how far we can take it." The Twins finished with a mischievous grin of their own. Everyone stared at the six of them wide-eyed. The six smirked when they could practically taste the fear.

 **("Blown up a toilet?... though, thanks, Mom.")**

The teachers snapped out of their fear-induced haze and groaned again.

Severus gave a mental smirk though, his was the only classroom that was never touched by the pranking menaces. Outside the classroom was where he had trouble with the three. Inside the classroom, they knew to behave themselves or be chopped up into the smallest potion ingredients he could manage. Of course... Harry's potions did have a tendency to explode... mostly from either being paired with Longbottom or his Slytherins throwing stuff in his cauldron making it explode.

Hermione suddenly realized something. "That's what you found so funny in our second year!" She turned to Ron. "It was about a month before Christmas. Remember?" She asked him, referencing when they first started brewing the Polyjuice.

His eyes widened and they both turned to Harry, who just shrugged with a slight smirk on his face.

 **("It's _not_ funny... met on the train?")**

"Sorry about this, Harry." The Twins said. Harry waved them off, though he noticed Ginny had turned an interesting red color.

 **(Harry leaned back... Mom, oh please...")**

Ginny's face was beet red as she hid her face in Luna's blond hair. Her brother's snickered quietly, but didn't say anything. They were just glad she finally grew out of that.

"I'm so glad I grew out of that." Ginny muttered, unknowingly vocalizing her siblings thoughts.

"Me, too." Harry said with a jerk of his head. She had been driving him nuts with her sudden clumsiness and inability to speak when he was nearby. The professor's were smiling amused, while Dudley's eyebrows were raised. So, his cousin was popular with the ladies, was he...

 **("You've already seen... at in a zoo.)**

"Thank you!" Harry cried. "Try telling that to the rest of Wizarding Britain." He grumbled.

 **(Is he really, Fred?... Who looks like?** **")**

Harry grimaced and frowned. "Looked like, not at the time. How he laughs... yeah. That, I remembered." Harry muttered.

Everyone else frowned too. It wasn't right that he remembered something like that.

"I hope none of you bothered him by asking about it." Molly warned her boys.

"Of course not!" The Twins said defensively. Ron shifted in his seat, but didn't answer. He didn't technically ask that though, so...

 **(Their mother suddenly... began to cry.)**

"Normally, children don't want to go to school... at least, Muggle children don't." Dudley said with his head tilted to the side.

Ginny shrugged. "I didn't want to be left at home all alone for a year."

"You weren't alone, your father and I were there." Molly said, looking at her daughter.

"Yeah, but your both _old_." Ginny said with a grin at her parents, both of whom scowled back playfully.

 **("Don't, Ginny, we'll...** **"Only joking, Mom.")**

"Even I could tell tell they were joking." Harry whispered to Sirius.

Sirius frowned and looked at the Twins in concern. "I can speak with them later, if you want." He offered.

Harry frowned, but shook his head, "I don't think it's going to do much good at this point, this was years ago." He said. Sirius nodded in understanding.

 **(The train began to move... fell back and waved.)**

Bill reached over and pulled his little sister into a side hug, smirking when she whined and halfheartedly fought against it. The other boys all grinned. They maybe, kind of, spoiled their little sister a bit.

Just a little bit though...

 **(Harry watched the... was leaving behind.)**

People frowned again. He didn't even care where he was going, as long as it was far away. Just what happened in that house that Harry wasn't telling them? They glanced over at Harry, only to see him grabbing a sketch pad and pencil and start drawing something.

 **(The door of the...** **"Everywhere else is full.")**

"Ron..." Charlie and Hermione both started slowly. They looked at each other, startled, before Hermione motioned for Charlie to speak, it was his brother after all.

"Ron, you were on a magical train. If there were truly no more seats available, the train would have expanded and a new compartment would have been created. Something you knew seeing as how I made sure to drill it into your head before I left for Romania." Charlie said with a frown, looking at his youngest brother. Ron turned beet red, which clashed horribly with his hair, but he didn't say anything. He avoided the amused looks on everybodies faces in favor of looking at Harry, trying to see his reaction to hearing that Ron basically lied so he could get a chance to meet him.

Harry blinked at his friend a couple of times, shrugged, and went back to drawing. Ron breathed an audible sigh of relief. Glad his friend wasn't mad and didn't seem to care about the reasons behind them actually becoming friends.

 **(Harry shook his head...** **tarantula down there.")**

Ron shuddered again. Hermione reached over and patted him on the back.

 **("Right," mumbled Ron..** **. See you later, then.")**

"Well that was... kind of sudden." _Hermione_ blinked. Harry didn't even look up from his drawing this time.

"That's the twins. They don't waste time with idle chat. They say what they want to say and they do what they want to do. If they do come to just chat, there is usually a reason behind it." He said. The Twins blinked. They didn't think he noticed.

 **("Bye," said Harry...** **and George's jokes,")**

"I can see us doing that,"

"If we didn't know how much you'd been wanting to meet him." The Twins said seriously, staring at their brother. Ron blinked, but smiled.

 **(said Ron. "And have...** **lightning scar. Ron stared.)**

Ron winced, now that he knew how much Harry hated it when people stared. "Sorry about that mate." Harry waved him off and kept drawing. After a minute, _Harry_ joined him.

Hermione tilted her head. "I didn't know you liked to draw." She said flatly. Harry shrugged. He didn't really get a chance to draw much when he was at Hogwarts or the Burrow. When he did get a chance, it was usually when he snuck up to the Room of Requirement in the middle of the night.

Dudley said, "He draws all the time at home. Of course, mom usually tears those up if she finds them, or Aunt Marge feeds them to Ripper..."

"You used to tear them up too, Dudley. Either that or take them to school to show off _your_ artistic abilities." Harry said, saying 'your' as sarcastically as he could and looking at his cousin over the top of his work. Dudley grimaced.

"Who's Ripper?" Sirius asked curiously.

"Aunt Marge's prized bull-dog." Harry said bitterly.

Dudley grimaced again. "The thing hates Harry. With a passion. How many times did it chase you up a tree?" He asked. Both Harry's shrugged. They lost count years ago.

"There's only two dogs I want anything to do with." He muttered, glancing between Hagrid and Sirius. The only two dogs he could tolerate were Padfoot and Fang. Otherwise, they terrified him. Sirius smiled at him, sad that Harry didn't like dogs, dogs happened to be Sirius favorite animal. Case in point, his dog animagus. He was considering telling _Harry_ that Padfoot would stay away, but if Harry didn't mind Padfoot... he'd talk to _Harry_ about it later.

 **("So that's where You-Know-Who-?")**

"RON!" Molly cried. She said NOT to ask.

Ron held up his hands. "Technically, you told the twins not to ask, not me. Also, technically, I didn't ask him anything about that night. I asked about his scar." He said defensively. The Slytherins in the room raised an eyebrow. That had been a very Slytherin answer from the Prince of the Lions (Harry was the King, whether he knew it or not Gryffindor listened to him).

Molly's eyes narrowed dangerously, but Arthur put a hand on her shoulder, saying that Ron had a point.

 **("Yes," said Harry,...** **light, but nothing else.")**

"You shouldn't have even remembered that much." Sirius muttered, pulling his boys tighter against him, loosening up again when he felt their drawings start to crinkle up a bit. Looking at them, he was very impressed.

"You left out the loud, creepy laugh." _Harry_ muttered, Harry shrugged.

"Didn't think that would gain me a friend. That might of scared him off." He said matter-of-factly.

 **("Wow," said Ron...** **as Ron found him.)**

Now it was Harry's turn to go slightly red. "Sorry." He muttered, glancing up from his drawing. Sirius was looking at it curiously, and was even more impressed.

Ron waved it away. "I guess it's natural, what with wizards still being new to you, and all." He said. He outright ignored Hermione's shocked expression beside him. Hey, he could show tact! Once in awhile...

 **("Er- yes, I think so,... we never talk about him.")**

"Why not?" _Hermione_ asked, slightly offended.

"He's very bitter. The family has tried, many times, to reconnect with him, but he turns us away every time. For a family like ours, where family means everything to us, for one of that family to want nothing to do with us, its very painful." Molly said.

 _Hermione_ said, "Oh," in a small voice, and looked down, once again she jumped to the wrong conclusions about something and almost accused somebody of something. All the Weasley's pointedly avoided looking at Percy, who was looking down at the floor in shame. Although, Bill and Charlie both shifted so their knees were touching his.

 **("So you must know loads of magic already.")**

"Not quite." The Weasley's muttered.

Molly narrowed her eyes at all her boys. "You better not have, you know perfectly well it's against the law to do magic outside of school." She warned them.

Neither of the Draco's felt like mentioning the loop-holes regarding the simple fact that the Ministry couldn't tell WHO did the magic, which meant that children with at least one magical parent could do all the magic they wanted and the Ministry would never know.

 **(The Weasley's were... had talked about.)**

"So are the Potter's." Sirius muttered to his godsons. They both smiled slightly at him.

"And we're not quite like what Draco was talking about either." Bill said with a shrug.

 **("I heard you went to live with Muggles," said Ron.)**

"Hey, you know what I just thought of, if he was living with Muggles, then how did the papers and books know what he looked like, and why are they passing off the Harry Potter Adventure series off as something he really did?" Ron asked.

"I hadn't thought of that. But that is a massive security breach." Arthur said. Moody nodded and went back to scribbling furiously on his parchments.

"Wait," Harry said, looking up from his drawing hesitantly, as if he really didn't want to know, but had to ask anyway, "'Harry Potter Adventure' series?" He asked slowly, his eyes were wide.

"You didn't know about that?"

Harry shook his head. "I usually try to get in, get what I need, and get out. That way there's less chance of being mobbed by 'adoring fans'." He said sarcastically. Moody frowned and scribbled some more.

"Don't worry about those, I'll see what I can do when we get back. There are laws concerning using the name of a minor in marketing." He reassured Harry. "Basically, in a nutshell, it can't be done without the legal guardians permission, and the minor in question has to receive a cut of the profit."

"Which he wasn't." Sirius and Bill muttered. Dumbledore shifted. That would be because he authorized it, and he was getting that cut of the profit.

 **("What are they like?"...** **and Percy's old rat.")**

Charlie was speechless. When he finally found his voice, he could barely speak above a whisper. "You gave him my old wand? I gave you that to Owl it to Ollivander to be destroyed when I got my new one because it was unsafe to use." He stared at his mother as if she'd grown a second head. "The core was poking out the end, how could you possibly think that was ok to give Ron?"

Ollivander looked at Ron sharply. He knew Ron no longer had that wand, having sold him one just before the boys third year, but he never did find out what the boy was using before that. "You never had problems with it? You were never injured using it?" He asked sharply. All the teachers looked shocked.

Minerva was heard asking Severus quietly how they missed something like that. There were funds set aside, to be used if a students wand became damaged or unsafe and the parents were unable to purchase a new one. This certainly explained his poor spell-work his first year.

Ron shook his head, no he was never injured using it. The first year, anyway.

"Mom!" Charlie exclaimed when his mother refused to meet any of their eyes or say anything.

Finally, she sighed. "We had no choice, I had to send him with something, and that year was harder than usual, financially. We couldn't afford to get him one of his own."

"You could have owled me! Or Bill! You know we would have been glad to help out. We've been trying to help out for years and you never let us!" Charlie said. The younger Weasley's were shocked. They didn't know Bill and Charlie had been trying to send their parents money.

"We have never been so bad off that we couldn't manage somehow." Molly said sharply. "Besides, that money is yours, you earned it, so you are going to use it for your own homes and future families."

"But mom, we're talking about a faulty wand! No matter how much you don't want to take our money, this is something you couldn't have just ignored! Ron could have gotten seriously hurt or killed using that!" Bill jumped in. Ron went pale. He didn't know that.

"Boys, we can finish discussing this later." Arthur stepped in. "And Ron, we will talk about your... insecurities later as well." He said. They all looked at their father, but nodded and sat back.

 **(Ron reached inside... which was asleep.)**

Sirius, Remus, and the Trio growled at the mention of the rat, surprising everyone who had not yet caught on, or didn't know the full story.

 **("His name's Scabbers and he's useless,)**

"You got that right." Was heard from random people who would really love to go rat-hunting right about then.

 **(he hardly ever wakes... Scabbers instead.")**

*"Hold on. You already said Percy got new robes because he was a prefect, now he got an owl, too? I thought you said that year was harder than usual. So, why not have gotten Ron a wand instead of new robes and an owl? You could have easily bought a new wand with the cost of the owl alone." Charlie said. He was not happy about this.

"Charles Weasley." Arthur said in a hard voice. "I said, we will discuss this later." Charlie sat back reluctantly, but he realized that he finally pushed his father too far. Everyone else just stared at Arthur. They never heard him like that, before.

Percy spoke up in a quiet voice. "I actually bought the owl myself. I'd been saving up, my fifth year and becoming prefect just happened to be when I finally had enough." He was bothered. He didn't know the condition the wand given to Ron had been in. If he'd known, he'd have bought Ron a wand instead of Hermes. He could have waited another year.

Ron blinked. He didn't know Percy bought Hermes, he thought their dad did.

 **(Ron's ears went pink... out of the window.)**

Arthur looked more and more pained the longer he had to hear about how ashamed his son was of how bad their financial situation was. Molly gave him a side hug. She was wishing they could have just that little bit of extra money.

 **(Harry didn't think there... proper birthday presents.)**

Ron scowled. "Yeah, except you made it sound like the Dursley's honestly just couldn't afford anything. He said nothing about them actually being fairly rich themselves." He muttered.

 **(This seemed to cheer Ron up.)**

He turned red again. "Not in the way that I was happy for his suffering, but more in the way that we had something in common." He muttered at the scandalized looks being thrown his way.

 **("...and until Hagrid... Voldemort-"** **Ron gasped.)**

Now he just shook his head in exasperation and defeat. Harry shrugged.

 **("What?" said Harry...** **saying the name,")**

"Its not a matter of bravery, anyway. Its just a stupid name. It's not even real." Harry muttered.

 **(said Harry, "I just... worst in the class.")**

The teachers all raised an eyebrow. "Actually, Mr. Potter, while your theory could use some work, you are the top of your class when we do practical work."

Harry gaped at them. "But, I never get it quickly! It always takes me a couple of days!" He protested.

"Yes, but when you do get the spell, its usually better quality work than the rest of your classmates. It's your poor theory work that had your grades so low." Harry and Hermione could only gape. "And, of course, now that we know why that is..." She turned to _Harry,_ who gulped. "I expect _your_ theory work to reflect that smart mind I know is there." She told him sternly.

 _Harry_ could only nod his head quickly. _Hermione_ looked like she wasn't sure if she should be excited at the possibility of competition, or jealous that he might be as smart as or smarter than her.

 **("You won't be... learn quick enough.")**

Hermione nodded while _Hermione_ looked relieved. "Now, if they just offered that class on wizarding customs and tradition..." Hermione muttered.

Sirius nodded, Lily said the same thing once. "I'll see what I can do... I think the Blacks have a seat on the Board of Governors... so do the Potters actually, now that I think about it."

"Um, I think my father has been using my status as the Heir to the Black family, well, unless the Head of the Family says otherwise, and the fact that the Head of the Family was a prisoner turned escaped convict and therefore couldn't say otherwise... Yeah, he's been using the Black family's political status to get what he wants." Draco said sheepishly. Sirius blinked.

"Well, that's the first thing that needs to be changed." He muttered. "That actually explains a lot..." Then he frowned. "I'm pretty sure I named Harry as my legal and magical Heir before I went to prison. Months before, actually."

Moody and Severus frowned. That wasn't good. Dumbledore shifted, he didn't know about that...

 **(While they had been...** **the cart, dears?")**

Both Ron's started drooling a bit at the thought of the food cart. _Ron_ had heard a lot from his brothers about it, while Ron just wanted some food off of it.

Both Hermione's rolled their eyes at their respective Ron. "Always thinking with his stomach..." Hermione muttered fondly.

Everyone else chuckled.

 **(Harry, who hadn't had any breakfast,)**

Everyone cast dark looks at the Dursleys, unsure if this one was due to Harry's excitement, or them not letting him have anything.

 **(leapt to his feet... brought sandwiches.)**

Molly frowned. What was he embarrassed about?

 **(Harry went out into...** **as he could carry-)**

"What's a Mars Bar?" Draco asked. _Draco_ nodded in agreement to the question.

"Its a Muggle candy, its... here." Hermione said, and next thing everyone knew, the table was covered in Mars Bars. Hermione evidently thought it would be easier to just let them try it for themselves than try to talk about it.

 _Draco_ picked it up and inspected it. "What does it do?"

"Nothing." Hermione laughed, "Its just a chocolate bar. Muggles don't have Magic, how could you expect them to enchant something?" She asked, Harry nodded in agreement. He thought it was amazing how wizards seemed to forget so often that some of the stuff they took for granted, like moving pictures, didn't exist in the Muggle world because they took MAGIC to make, something Muggles didn't have. _Draco_ turned slightly red at the question.

With that, everybody helped themselves with Dudley making sure _Dudley_ was limited to three. Those were to last the rest of the day. No more. Petunia was trying to get her son to let his younger self have as many as he wanted, while _Petunia_ tried to get them all for him, but Dudley wouldn't budge.

The wizards all found them to be pretty good, and it was decided to just leave them out if anybody wanted more. Under Molly's watchful eye, of course. No matter their ages.

 **(but the woman didn't have Mars Bars.)**

"Maybe we should put Muggle candy on the cart... It would certainly make the first year Muggleborn and raised more at ease about being thrown into a new world like we are... it might even help the Purebloods understand where we come from a little more." Hermione suggested to the professor's.

Minerva looked thoughtful before she summoned some parchment and started writing. "That combined with a wizarding customs class... they would have a much easier time of integrating into our society..." She frowned for a moment, then a stack of books appeared, _Hogwarts a History,_ editions 1-10. Her, Hermione, and Remus all sat up and stared at the books. Severus' eyes went wide. Everyone could have sworn the four of them started drooling, (Severus would deny that ever happened.)

"Before you four start fighting over these, how about we do this...?" Sirius said loudly when the four of them started eyeing each other warily and inching toward the books. Three more sets of the same books appeared in front of Remus, Hermione, and Severus, while a fourth stack appeared sitting neatly on top of the trunk holding the Potter Heirlooms. On top of each stack, was a satchel with extension charms similar to Hermione's beaded bag. "And then, when we leave here, you can give your set to _Hermione,_ " He gestured between the two Hermione's, "And the others can give your sets to Moody or _Ron_ to give your other selves. Well, _Ron_ can give it to his Bill, or his dad, either one would work." He suggested.

They all nodded, Moody grumbled, "Why me?" To which Sirius answered that he was the only one who currently had Sirius trust to actually do it and not hoard them to himself. Well, he trusted _Ron_ too.

 **(What she did have... seven bronze Knuts.)**

Sirius whistled lowly. "That's more than we usually spent." He said, impressed.

Molly frowned, "You shouldn't eat that much sugar, its not healthy." She scolded.

Ron sighed, "Yes mom." He muttered.

Sirius frowned at her, "Boys will be boys, Molly." Molly turned to glare at him, but didn't say anything when Arthur laid a hand on her arm.

 **(Ron stared as Harry... like corned beef.")  
**

"You don't?" Molly asked, startled out of glaring at Sirius. "I though you loved corned beef."

"No, that's me that likes corned beef." Charlie said quietly. They usually just went along and never said anything. There were times when she would ask to make sure, and they would tell the truth, but they never said anything when she forgot and gave them something that another sibling liked instead.

"Oh." She sat back with a bothered expression on her face. She suddenly realized that must have been why Ron was embarrassed earlier about having brought sandwiches. He knew she probably forgot. The thought was just depressing.

 **("Swap you for one... with five of us.")**

Her look deepened. "But we know you do your best." Bill said to his mother, the other kids all nodded. They wouldn't trade her for the world, no matter how many faults she had.

She smiled gratefully at them, but she still looked troubled. Draco frowned over at the Weasley's thoughtfully.

 **("Go on, have... sandwiches lay forgotten.))**

Ron winced at his mother's downcast expression, "Sorry mom." He said sheepishly.

Arthur smiled softly at his son and leaned over to whisper in his wife's ear.

 **("What are these?"...** **I'm missing Agrippa.")**

"Oh, I have at least five of him." Both Sirius and Remus informed Ron.

"I think James had several of him as well, although he left his collection at the Manor, I believe." Sirius said thoughtfully.

Remus nodded. "You'll just have to take _Harry_ there when you get a chance." Sirius nodded, he would definitely be doing that. Harry's eyes were wide, he looked at Ron and Hermione and mouthed 'manor?' They just shook their heads, their eyes were wide too.

 **("What? "Oh, of course,... Agrippa or Ptolemy.")**

"I've got several of him, too." Sirius and Remus muttered.

"HOW?!" Ron practically exploded. "Those two are among the rarest cards you could find!" He exclaimed.

"Well," Sirius started while Remus turned slightly red, although whether it was from embarrassment or annoyance was anyone's guess. "You kids must have noticed that Remy is a bit of a chocoholic?" He waited until he saw heads nodding before he continued. "When, when you share a dorm with a chocoholic for seven years, you tend to eat A LOT of chocolate frogs. Which means you build up quite the card collection. We used to trade some of the rarer cards we collected for kids silence if we didn't feel like threatening them with turning into a toad for the day or something." He shrugged and ignored the look Minerva gave him.

"And what he really means, is that he was constantly finding and getting into my secret stash. DESPITE the wards I would place around it, AND despite the fact that I eventually started carrying it around with me in a pouch I put an undetectable expansion charm on along with those same wards I had on it in the first place." Remus said, glaring at Sirius accusingly.

Sirius just smirked at him while the teens laughed and Minerva muttered that that was what those wards he asked for were all about.

 **(Harry unwrapped his... name Albus Dumbledore.)**

Dumbledore had a small, secretive smile on his face during the description on his card.

He like that he had a chocolate frog card.

 **("So _this_ is Dumbledore!"... and tenpin bowling.)**

During the description of what the card said, Ron and Hermione both turned to glare at Harry, who chuckled sheepishly. "Oops?" He tried.

They scowled and turned away, both grumbling about wasted time and how he had it right there the whole time.

 **(Harry turned the... disappeared.**

 **"He's gone!")**

"What?!" Both Dudley's yelped.

"Well, yeah, what else was he supposed to do?" Draco asked.

"Pictures don't move! Movies are different!" Dudley said.

"Of course pictures move, and what's a movie?" _Draco_ asked, confused. Arthur looked up eagerly, wanting to learn something new about Muggle technology. The Dursley's all made a strangled sound.

"Wizarding pictures move, remember, Muggles don't have potions or magic, so they can't produce moving pictures? And movies are... well, they're not moving pictures in the way wizarding pictures are..." Hermione trailed off and looked to Harry for help explaining.

"How about we watch a few movies while we're here or something? It might be easier to just show you." Arthur nodded eagerly. He didn't know what a movie was, but it sounded fascinating! The rest of the Weasley's noticed this and shook their heads in fond amusement.

 **("Well, you can't...** **to be unwrapped.)**

"Ronald, if you want something, you know how to ask politely." Molly said sternly. Ron just sighed and nodded his head obediently.

 **("Help yourself," said... stay put in photos.")**

The Dursleys nodded imperiously, that was the way it should be. The Dudley's looked curious about this new thing though.

 **("Do they? What,...** **him a small smile.)**

The Dursley's looked repulsed and horrified, while both Dudley's looked curious. Next thing, some chocolate frogs appeared on the table, and both boys were studying them, eventually opening them up to see the cards inside. Their eyes widened in amazement when the pictures on the cards moved, they even waved at them!

Both Petunia's gave a small shriek of horror at seeing their boys holding those things before snatching them and tossing them away. Both boys protested, but quieted down when they saw Harry summon them and hand them off to Bill. Both Harry and Bill saw them looking and winked. Bill would give them their cards once they got back to their rooms.

Their mother's scolding and lecturing about how they shouldn't touch such unnatural things also made them shut up and sigh before nodding obediently.

 **(Ron was more interested... Paracelsus, and Merlin.)**

"You got Merlin?" Both Sirius and Remus yelled, staring at Harry in shock and awe.

"Yup." Harry said with a smug grin. The Merlin card was very rare, there were only supposed to be a hundred made every two years. Which meant that they were very difficult, almost impossible to find.

"I don't think we found a Merlin card until our seventh year, even with all the Chocolate Frogs we ate, and you just happen to find one on the first day of even finding out Chocolate Frogs exist? HOW IS THAT EVEN FAIR?" Sirius yelled in shock. Ron was nodding along. He had found one too, but not until their fifth year, and he'd been collecting since he was old enough to read the descriptions.

Harry shrugged, still with that smug grin on his face. Sirius and Remus both stared at him for a moment before they sat back, pouting at the unfairness of it all.

Hermione shook her head, and muttered, 'boys.' The teachers shook their heads too, but they were used to the Marauders antics.

 **(He finally tore his... Every Flavor Beans.)**

"Every flavor?" Dudley asked.

The wizards grinned. "Yup. Every flavor." Ron confirmed with a smirk.

 **("You want to be... -flavored one once.")**

"That's a lot of flavors..." Dudley muttered to his younger self.

"Some of those sound a little... strange, to have to eat though." _Dudley_ muttered back. Dudley nodded in agreement.

 **(Ron picked up...** **"Bleaaargh- see? Sprouts.")**

All the Weasley boys made a face at that. Sprouts were disgusting. Their mother shot them a look, she didn't care how disgusting they thought they were, they were going to eat them.

 **(They had a good... out to be pepper.)**

Remus and Sirius were impressed. First, the kid finds a Merlin card, then he gets some fairly decent luck with his Bertie Bott's. Those weren't bad flavors to get. Sardine and grass were fairly mild. The kid had some very good luck.

Ron groaned. "I got earwax and vomit." He grumbled.

 **(The countryside now..** **. He looked tearful.)**

"Oh, great." Neville muttered.

Ron frowned. Didn't he say something after Neville left? He couldn't remember what he said though...

 **("Sorry," he said,...** **away from me!")**

Neville sighed. Wasn't that the truth. "Like I said, he just likes to explore and find cooler places for his skin." Luna told him. Neville looked thoughtful for a moment before he grabbed a quill and parchment

 **("He'll turn up,"...** **quick as I could.)**

"Ronald!" Molly said sharply. Ron winced (now he remembered what he said) and apologized to Neville, which he was about to do anyway even without his mother there.

Neville waved it off, toads weren't exactly the most popular.

 **(Mind you, I brought Scabbers, so I can't talk.")**

"I would take Trevor over Scabbers any day. At least Trevor is a real animal." Ron muttered. Everybody that knew about Scabbers being Pettigrew nodded in agreement.

 **(The rat was still snoozing on Ron's lap.)**

"You know, I wonder if he was really snoozing, or if he was listening to our conversation trying to find out information on you, Harry." Ron said thoughtfully.

Harry frowned, but nodded. It was entirely possible.

 **("He might have... I'll show you, look...")**

Fred and George burst out laughing. "You actually tried that?" They asked while still laughing. Ron's ears turned pink with embarrassment, and Harry was trying not to laugh as well, Ron was so easy to prank, even after growing up with Fred and George, it was hilarious!

Molly wasn't amused though, and made that known.

 **(He rummaged around... poking out. Anyway-")**

Charlie and Ollivander both groaned. Ollivander turned to Molly, "You do realize the state of that wand would have been grounds for me to call the DMLE on you for criminal negligence and child endangerment? Not to mention improper use of magical resources." He asked her sternly.

Molly's eyes widened and she looked at Moody and Sirius (the two Aurors in the room) to confirm, they both shrugged and nodded. That sounded about right to them. It didn't happen often, because a wand was considered to be such an important piece of the wizard, but it did happen.

Arthur sighed. He hadn't known the condition the wand was in either. Molly gave it to Ron while he was at work.

 **(He had just raised... new Hogwarts robes.)**

Hermione blinked, then slumped down. She hadn't exactly made the best first impression, has she?

Ron reached over and squeezed her shoulder. She gave him a small smile.

 **("Has anyone seen a... bossy sort of voice,)**

Hermione groaned. "I did, didn't I?" She asked her boys. Both of them shrugged, but nodded. She had been very, _very_ bossy when they first met. She came out of it around the end of the Easter holidays, but everyone once in awhile it would come back.

"Its ok, though. You just didn't know how to really interact, I think." Harry said quietly. Ron nodded in agreement.

 _Hermione_ frowned. She didn't boss people around, did she?

 **(lots of bushy brown...** **girl wasn't listening,)**

Both Harry and Ron gave long-suffering sighs. When something caught her attention, Hermione had _very_ selective hearing. She could probably catch on fire and she wouldn't even notice.

Something that they were both fond of and extremely annoyed with.

 **(she was looking at the wand in his hand.)**

"Oh, boy." Ron muttered, he glanced at the Twins, this would be good. _Not_.

 **("Oh, are you doing...** **looked taken aback.)**

"I would have been too." Sirius said, he blinked and looked at Hermione. "I don't think even Remus was quite that... socially deprived when we first met him." He said, still bewildered. Remus scowled.

Sure he had a furry problem, and his parents tried to hide him away, but he still got out and met people.

 **("Er- all right."...** _ **, fat rat yellow.")**_

There weren't that many people in the room that weren't either laughing or shaking in laughter. He honestly fell for that! He grew up around magic, he would have heard both his brother's, parents, and who knows how many relatives doing magic, and more than likely saying the spells!

And he honestly fell for it!

The Twins stood up once they controlled their laughter and each took a sweeping bow before grinning at their younger brother, who glared back. There wasn't any real heat to it though. Honestly, Harry helped get the Twins back many times over the years for various pranks they did on Ron. Including this one.

 **(He waved his wand, but nothing happened.)**

"Of course not, that's not a real spell." Charlie chuckled. He was glad nothing happened with the wand though, it could have still gone off.

Ron scowled at him.

That's when he noticed that even his mother was starting to smile over that stupid fake spell!

 **(Scabbers stayed gray...** **all worked for me.)**

"What did you try?" Minerva demanded.

Hermione blinked, "Just a couple of small reparo's." She was a little confused.

"Foolish girl, you could have damaged your core trying that before you even started your schooling. Books can't supervise, and books don't hold all of the personal experience dealing with some issues that come up, personal experience that your teachers have. Books are not substitutes for a good teacher." Madam Pomfrey lectured the girl, who was wide-eyed.

Hermione nodded numbly. She had just wanted to impress her parents! (That, and know as much as she could as quickly as she could.)

 **(Nobody in my family's...** **all this very fast.)**

Everybody was blinking at the girl when the charms on the book managed to mimic the way she said all that perfectly. Harry, Ron, and Neville were all hiding smirks, and Hermione was very red in the face. The three boys realized just then that this was the first time anybody else in that room had really ever been exposed to Hermione's way of talking very fast without taking a breath or giving you a chance to get a word in otherwise.

 _Harry_ and _Ron_ gulped when they realized that they would very quickly be learning first hand how to keep up with the girl.

 **(Harry looked at Ron,... books by heart either.)**

"But I did read them." Harry hurried to say, eyeing his teachers, especially Professor Snape.

A couple of them cracked a smile.

 **("I'm Ron Weasley,"...** ** _the Twentieth Century._ ")**

"You know, Sirius, you should probably check into those books... I haven't read them, but I don't think they are going to be very accurate about what actually happened. Considering I've never talked about it with anybody, before or after coming to the Wizarding world. Well, except with Ron and Hermione." Harry said, looking at his godfather. Sirius nodded thoughtfully and Moody added those books to his list of things to take another look at.

 _Hermione,_ who had looked very excited at hearing Harry was in three separate books, looked like Harry committed blasphemy when he said they probably weren't going to be at all accurate. But when she heard that Harry was the only one who could have told anybody what really happened, as he was the only one to survive, it did raise the question of where they got their information.

 **("Am I?" said Harry, feeling dazed.)**

"And for good reason." Harry muttered. A few people shot him apologetic looks.

 **("Goodness, didn't you know,)**

"That should have been my first clue that those books might not be the most accurate." Hermione said with a sheepish look on her face. "If the only person who was said to have actually been there and survived knew nothing about the books about it being written..." She shrugged. A few people chuckled, that was very true.

 **(I'd have found out... sounds by far the best;)**

"More like, you ran into a few Slytherin students, who made fun of you for being Muggleborn, and a couple of Gryffindor's scared them off." Harry mumbled in sudden realization, looking at his friend.

She looked at him, then blinked in confirmation before she looked away.

Draco scowled at Gryffindor being called the best.

 **(I hear Dumbledore...** **boy with her.)**

"After all that, he never did introduce himself, did he? You just overheard his name on the platform and Hermione mentioned it in passing." Ron said. "And I suppose I already knew him in passing, but..." Ron shrugged.

Harry shrugged too, but Neville never did introduce himself now that he thought about it. Neville looked sheepish, and said sorry with a slightly red face. Harry and Ron both waved it off.

 **("Whatever house I'm in, I hope she's not in it," said Ron.)**

Molly gasped, "Ronald!" She said. She would have started scolding, but Hermione cut her off with a small smile.

"It's ok, I guess I did kind of start off wrong. I just... didn't really know how to make friends, I guess." She said sheepishly. Molly frowned at her, but she let it go... for now.

 **(He threw his wand... knew it was a dud.")**

"Ron," Fred started.

"For it to have been a dud,"

"It would have had to have been..."

"... an actual spell in the first place." The Twins said. Ron scowled at them both while others laughed.

 **("What house are...** **settling on him again.)**

Arthur and Molly frowned. They had never heard their youngest son be so insecure before. They supposed they better talk to him about this, both of them. Especially the younger one, when they looked at him, he seemed fairly gloomy at the thought too. They were going to make sure Ron didn't feel this way anymore, and they were going to nip this in the bud with _Ron._

 **("Mom and Dad were in it, too. I don't know what they'll say if I'm not.)**

"We would have been perfectly happy where ever you ended up." Arthur said quietly. "Even Slytherin." He said when _Ron_ looked like he was going to say something. "If that was where you were supposed to be, and you were happy there. Of course, we were thrilled when you ended up in the House our family has been in for generations, but, if you belonged somewhere else, then you belonged somewhere else." He said firmly. He wanted for there to be no doubts about this, all he and Molly wanted was for their kids to be happy, even if Molly tended to be way too hard on the Twins, and kept insisting they go into the Ministry when all they wanted was to run a shop and make people laugh.

 **(I don't suppose...** **-Know-Who was in?")**

Everybody gasped and stared at Harry like he grew two heads. "What?" He asked with a frown, what did he do?

"You didn't say his name." Neville said, with wide eyes.

Ron snorted. "Don't get used to that, it didn't last long." He told everybody. They all sighed and settled back in, happy that Harry would go back to relative normal soon. Harry rolled his eyes.

 **("Yeah," said Ron...** **mind off houses.)**

"Thanks, Harry." Ron muttered. Harry shrugged. Some people, those who noticed anyway, wondered at how alike Harry and the Twins were.

 **("So what do your...** **something for Gringotts,")**

"'Doing something'? Ron, you knew full well I was in Egypt raiding tombs." Bill said, amused. "That's kind of what Curse-Breakers assigned to Egypt do. Other assignments have other stuff, but Egypt is the tombs."

Ron turned bright red while everyone else glanced at him, all of them were amused. Draco looked thoughtful though, he had always thought Curse-Breaking sounded cool. His father, though, would say it was beneath a Malfoy. But... at the same time... Curse-Breakers were considered some of the elite of the wizarding world. Curse-Breakers and Aurors. Healers could be ranked up there too, depending on who you asked.

 **(said Ron. "Did you... a high security vault.")**

Moody and Dumbledore sat up. Dumbledore was thinking Voldemort had gone and taken the bait, now he could test Harry this coming school year. Moody was suspicious.

 **(Harry stared.** **"Really?...** **haven't been caught.)**

"That's not good." Sirius muttered.

Bill grimaced. "We heard about that in Egypt. They recalled me back to England for a few days, to test the banks security, they were not happy that somebody broke in and out. Sure, nothing was taken, and the vault was empty, but... the fact that nobody noticed anything until several days later..." He shuddered. He _hated_ testing the banks security. Problem was, he was one of the best they had, and they only trusted their best with testing security.

The Heads glared at Dumbledore, everything that happened that year was his fault, they never did learn just what happened to the Stone, just that Quirrell tried to steal it and was stopped by Harry.

 **(My dad says it...** **"Voldemort" without worrying.)**

"Exactly. Hey, could there be some kind of curse on the name You-Know-Who? To make people fear him even more? Or even a curse on the name Voldemort?" Harry asked suddenly.

Bill frowned and sat back, "It's possible... The goblins have documented cases where somebody cursed their name like that." He said slowly.

Severus frowned too, "He was certainly powerful enough." He murmured.

"And he was determined that he would become so powerful that nobody would dare speak his name out of fear." Dumbledore added on thoughtfully. That was actually an idea.

 **("What's your Quidditch team?" Ron asked.**

 **"Er- I don't know any," Harry confessed.)**

All the Quidditch fanatics groaned, especially the Gryffindor's. Honestly, their star Seeker not even knowing any teams out there! "Oh, you are so lucky Wood didn't hear you say that." Ron muttered.

Harry and the Twins froze, then shuddered and started muttering to each other with fearful expressions. Everyone else caught the phrases, 'three in the morning', 'never properly dry', and 'couldn't sit properly'. Minerva looked concerned. Did she miss something while Oliver was captain?

 **("What!" Ron looked...** **Madam Malkin's robe shop.)**

Draco suddenly gulped and looked at his godfather warily. He forgot about this conversation, and the fact that he kinda... lied- to his godfather about how it really happened.

And his godfather HATED lying. The only time he deemed it acceptable was when his life or the lives of others were at stake. Which was probably how he was such a good spy despite his hatred of liers.

Severus looked at him suspiciously when he groaned. Why did he get the feeling he wasn't going to like what he was about to hear?

 **(He was looking... back in Diagon Alley.)**

"Funny how people look at me differently as soon as they learn my name." Harry muttered sarcastically.

 **("Is it true?" he said...** **looked like bodyguards.)**

Draco coughed. "They, actually kind of are... Their families have been in service to the Malfoy's for generations, if I remember right father said something about them owing us a lot of money, so they have to serve us until that debt is paid." He said, _Draco_ shrugged.

"I'm just surprised your the only one who came in to meet me." Harry said with a snort.

"Ah, that would be us." Fred said, gesturing between himself and his twin.

"We overheard some students..."

"... talking about how Harry Potter..."

"... was in a compartment towards the..."

"... end of the train and how they..."

"... always wanted to meet him."

"So... we made it known that whoever we caught..."

"... anywhere near that compartment would be our first..."

"... prank victims of the year."

"We also made sure they knew we had some new ideas to test out." The Twins said with a grin. Harry blinked at them, then grinned widely. He hadn't even had a full conversation with the Twins at this point and they were already looking out for him.

 **("Oh, this is Crabbe...** **Malfoy looked at him.)**

Severus narrowed his eyes at his older godson, this conversation was already not going how Draco described it to him when they spoke in his office later that night.

 **("Think my name's... they can afford.")**

All the Weasley's made sounds of protest, and Draco sank down in his seat and looked highly apologetic. _Draco_ watched all the Weasley's in the room with wide eyes.

 **(He turned back to...** **Harry didn't take it.)**

"You should have taken it, pup. No matter how angry you were with him." Sirius said with a grimace.

"Why? He was being a jerk." Harry said, "No offense." He said to Draco, who just shrugged while avoiding Severus's narrowed eyes.

"Refusing somebody's hand is considered one of the most serious insults you can give, not just them, but their entire family. By refusing his hand, you practically declared a family feud." Harry stared at his godfather, then looked at Draco, who looked uncomfortable, but shrugged again.

 **("I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks," he said coolly.)**

Severus was glaring at his godson. The only part of this conversation that Draco told the truth about, was Harry Potter refusing to shake his hand.

 **(Draco Malfoy didn't...** **it'll rub off on you.")**

Severus stood up and dragged Draco with him, snarling that they would be back before he dragged Draco out of the room. _Draco_ watched with wide eyes. His older self was in sooo much trouble right now.

When they were alone, he spun Draco around and stalked away from him, so he wouldn't be tempted. There was only one thing in the world that could ever tempt him to act like his disgusting father, and that was when somebody he cared about lied to him.

"You lied to me." Severus snarled.

Draco grimaced. "I know. I just... you know how much Father was pushing me to be friends with Harry Potter. If I told him that I messed it up, you know how he would have been. He would have never let it go, I don't know how angry he would have been, and I didn't want to know." He trailed off, he knew that Severus wasn't going to care what his excuse was, he still lied.

Severus whirled around and grabbed him by the shoulder, shaking him lightly. "You should have trusted me to know how to handle Lucius. You should have trusted me to know what to tell him." He hissed. Draco could see the hurt and disappointment shining in his eyes. He was one of the few who could read Severus Snape.

"I know. I'm sorry." Draco said quietly. He hated disappointing Severus, probably more than he hated disappointing his father.

"Draco, you realize, that when you told me what you did, you solidified the image I had in my head of Harry Potter being a miniature of his father. Half of the abuse I heaped on him in class, would not have happened, if I did not have that image in my mind. You realize, that when you LIED to me, you put us all in danger from the Dark Lord. Dumbledore asked me, to get Potter's trust, so that he would come to me when he had a problem, and so it would be easier for me to get information from him. I refused after I heard your account." Severus said. He watched as Draco's eyes widened. "That's not even counting the fact that you. Lied. To. Me. And, you said something like that to him! That is how your father speaks and acts, that is not how I taught you to speak and act." He said, letting go of Draco's arm.

"I know. It's just... I got angry. You know how I lose my filter when I'm angry. I've been working on it, and I'm better about it, but..." Draco shrugged helplessly.

Severus stared at him for a moment before he made a sound that was a cross between a sigh and a growl.

"You will be assisting me in the labs every free second you have while we are here and not reading until I say otherwise. Before I allow you in the lab though, you will give me two thousand lines of, 'I will never lie unless lives are in danger again', and no dessert for the next five evenings." Severus said. Draco blinked. That was more lenient than he thought it would be. "And don't look at me like that, I am taking into account how long it has been. And if I find out that there are other times you lied to me in these books, I will be adding to your punishment." Severus warned. Draco grimaced, but nodded. He was going to be writing lines the entire time he was here.

Severus nodded and gestured for him to go back to the room. When he was gone, he took a moment to collect himself before he followed. He found everyone talking quietly, and Remus pointedly not looking at him or Draco.

Great. He forgot Silencing charms. He knew he was forgetting something. The book started up again once he sat back down.

 **(Both Harry and Ron...** **than him or Ron.)**

Harry looked up from the drawing he was still working on and nodded quickly with wide eyes.

Ron snorted. "Especially since Harry is pretty much the smallest in our year, and they are easily the largest." He said somewhat sourly.

Harry scowled, "It's not like I asked to be the smallest." He grumbled. Dark looks were again cast at the Dursley's.

 **("But we don't feel...** **let out a horrible yell.)**

"What?" Some of the adults yelled in alarm. Draco, Harry, and Ron, though, all grinned or smirked. This was probably one of their favorite memories of first year.

 **(Scabbers the rat was hanging off his finger,)**

There was a split second of silence before some people were on the floor laughing, and others were chuckling, trying and failing to look disapproving, or just trying to hide their amusement. Sirius and Remus scowled at mention of the Rat, but they grinned when they realized what was happening.

 **(sharp little teeth... and hit the window,)**

Those who didn't know who Scabbers really was, winced in sympathy, because that had to hurt. Those who did know, took savage pleasure in the rat being caused pain. _Ron_ actually cried out when it was read. That was his pet!

 **(all three of them... Granger had come in.)**

"What were you doing back there?" Neville asked.

Hermione went red. "I think I remember Ron asking me that. So it should be in the book." She muttered.

 **("What _has_ been... ****And so he had.)**

Sirius and Remus snorted. "Typical." They both muttered. They waved everybody off when they tried to ask what was typical. They did not want to get into Peter Pettigrew being an animagus and his sleeping habits right now. In fact, they would be happy if they never heard of the Rat again.

 **("You've met Malfoy before?"...** **to the Dark Side.")**

Sirius and Moody both snorted. "Ain't that the truth." Sirius muttered. The man had been slimy back in school, nothing changed when he got out of school.

"Oh, the number of times I caught him at the scene, in the act, and he was still allowed to go free." Moody muttered.

Sirius snorted again. "Which Malfoy? There were two of them." He muttered to his mentor.

"Both." Moody growled. He was still sore about that.

"How could they allow them to go free if you caught them at it?" Hermione asked, appalled.

"Money." Both Moody and Sirius said at the same time. Draco blinked at the two Aurors, but said nothing. He was lucky, he was still in school and the Dark Lord wanted it to stay that way. But he really didn't like the thought of his grandfather and father doing any of those things.

"Be grateful you two never caught them at a Revel." Severus said darkly. "Even the two of you would have been too sick to your stomachs by what you saw to be able to move quick enough to defend yourselves, let alone make any arrests." A haunted look crossed his face before he quickly shoved it all back behind his Occlumency shields. That was the main reason why none of the spies the Ministry tried place within the Death Eater ranks never lasted long. They tended to give themselves away at the first Revel they attended.

Moody looked thoughtful. "You wouldn't mind speaking with me about it later, would you?" He asked. Severus blinked at him before he nodded slowly.

 **(He turned to Hermione...** **even get there!")**

" _Hermione,_ " Percy started. Then he paused and grimaced. "I can't believe I'm about to say this." He muttered, "Lighten up. Life is no fun if you follow the rules so strictly or constantly worry about doing something to get into trouble. Trust me, I know." He had been miserable when he left his family, he never realized how much life the Twins brought into everything they did. He looked to the younger _Hermione_ (and ignored his family, Harry, and Hermione gaping at him in shock) since he knew Hermione had long since lightened up.

You only needed to look at everything the Trio did in school (like start the DA, for example) to know that.

And he didn't even want to know what else they got up to without him knowing about it.

 **("Scabbers has been fighting... while we change?")**

"Ronald, be polite." Molly admonished.

"This was years ago." Ron protested. He was getting really tired of her scolding him for something he said years ago, he didn't even remember saying it!

"Molly, leave it." Arthur said when she narrowed her eyes at her youngest son. "Its no use scolding him for something he doesn't remember saying."

"Its alright, Mrs. Weasley, I did need to get out so they could change." Hermione jumped in.

 **("All right- I only... down the corridors,")**

"Most of them are children, dear." Sprout spoke up, looking slightly amused. Hermione blushed.

Harry looked thoughtful, then he suddenly snapped his fingers to get her attention, and signed, " _You got kicked out of your compartment and just wanted to sit with somebody, didn't you?"_

Her eyes widened, along with Ron's, and she nodded with a grimace when Ron turned demanding and questioning eyes on her. He was not happy. All the adults looked confused, except for Severus, who was the only one outside of the Trio that knew sign language. His eyes narrowed.

 **(said Hermione in a very sniffy voice.)**

"My voice was not sniffy!" Hermione exclaimed, "Was it?" She asked hesitantly.

Neither Ron nor Harry felt it safe to confirm, but Neville did, surprisingly enough. Although, he was also partially hidden behind Luna, so... "Yeah, it kind of was, up until the troll incident." He said carefully. Hermione frowned towards her younger self thoughtfully, and a little worried.

Meanwhile, Molly was panicking slightly trying to figure out what troll incident they could possibly be talking about.

 **("And you've got... sneakers underneath them.)**

Ron went a little pink while Molly went deep red. Honestly, she did what she could, but charms on clothing only went so far.

 **(A voice echoed... pale under his freckles.)**

"What are you THAT nervous about?"

"Fred and George told me what to expect with the Sorting." Was his answer. And honestly, it did explain it.

Now they really wanted to know what Fred and George told him the sorting would be.

 **(They crammed their... thronging the corridor.)**

Harry shuddered. Then he turned to _Harry. **"Be prepared for large crowds on and off the train."**_ He hissed.

 _Harry_ shuddered in revulsion at the thought of large crowds. He actually hadn't thought about that yet.

Everyone else looked curious at what they were talking about, although Ron and Hermione looked like they had and idea, Harry always hated large crowds, or crowds of any size, really.

 **(The train slowed right... All right there, Harry?")**

"Yup, thanks for asked Hagrid." Harry quipped with a grin to his large friend. Hagrid grinned back.

 **(Hagrid's big hairy face... thick trees there.)**

"There aren't trees there." Minerva said.

"... Then maybe you should probably light that path up." Harry said to the teachers. They all nodded.

Why did they not think of that? One of the kids could get hurt.

 **(Nobody spoke much... sniffed once or twice.)**

Neville blushed. "I lost Trevor again. I didn't think I would see him again." He explained. The Gryffindor's all smiled at him, they knew how much he liked Trevor.

 **("Yeh'll get yer firs'... a loud "Oooooh!")**

"Tha' never gets old." Hagrid murmured. He loved seeing the looks on kids faces when they saw the castle for the first time. That was why he volunteered to bring the kids across the lake every year.

Well, that and the fact the other teachers usually had last minute preparations to get finished up before the Feast and classes started the next day.

 **(The narrow path... turrets and towers.)**

 _Harry, Ron,_ and _Hermione's_ eyes widened. _Ron_ had heard a lot about Hogwarts from his older siblings, but none of them really described the castle itself and he'd never seen it.

 _Harry_ and _Hermione_ were obvious, Muggleborn and raised, they never even knew Hogwarts and magic existed until they came to this room. _Draco,_ on the other hand, had visited his godfather at the school, or went along when his father had a Governor's meeting at the school, or Governor's business to speak to Dumbledore about. He usually ended up wandering the school or going down to visit his godfather.

Sirius grinned at his younger godson.

 **("No more'n four... Neville and Hermione.)**

"Huh." Remus said. He turned to Sirius. "Is there just something about sharing that first boat ride? Because us, Pettigrew, and James all shared a boat ride. And the four of us were all together." He said. Sirius shrugged. He didn't know. Of course, you just had to look at Pettigrew to know that there was no guarantee of them staying together.

"What if somebody is afraid of the water?" _Hermione_ asked.

"Then hopefully they mention it to Hagrid before hand and he can send them off to the carriages with a prefect." Minerva said. Honestly, it had happened several times. They just dealt with it as it happened.

 **("Everyone in?" shouted...** **boats reached the cliff;)**

"Hagrid, I'm pretty sure your the only one tall enough for there to be any danger of hitting your head." Minerva said fondly. Hagrid flushed at her gentle teasing. Everyone else snickered a bit.

 **(they all bent their...** **climbed out of them.)**

"How did you know it was his?" Hermione asked.

Hagrid shrugged, "I figured he was sad about somethin', an' I've only ever seen someone so sad as when they los' a pet." He said.

Neville smiled at him gratefully.

 **("Trevor!" cried Neville...** **still got yer toad?")**

"Yes, I still had him. He seemed oddly content to stay put until we got to the dorm." Neville said.

"He wanted to know where you were living so he would know where to go back to once he was done exploring." Luna said wisely. Neville and the Trio grinned at her, although Hermione looked to be humoring her more than anything else.

 **(Hagrid raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door.)**

"I think that is the chapter. Next?" Flitwick asked the room. They all nodded, so he flicked his wand to restart the book.

 **"Chapter Seven; The Sorting Hat"**

* * *

So, some of you could probably tell, I like Molly Weasley, but I do not like how she treats the Twins when it comes to their jokes and pranks. Or how much she seems to try and control her children's lives so much. I think she is a great mother though, she had to have done something right to raise seven kids and all of them turned out pretty well, with the exception of Percy, but I also feel he was acting the way he was to protect is family a little bit. More on that later, though.

*I was wondering about this, they couldn't afford to buy Ron a wand, but yet they could afford to buy Percy new robes and an owl just for becoming Prefect? Yeah...


	9. the Sorting Hat

_**(Hagrid raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door.)**_

 _"I think that is the chapter. Next?" Flitwick asked the room. They all nodded, so he flicked his wand to restart the book._

 _ **"Chapter Seven; The Sorting Hat"**_

"Oh, boy." Harry muttered. Only Ron and Hermione knew he was supposed to be in Slytherin, well, he might have let it slip to Remus at some point over the years. He honestly couldn't remember. He glanced at Sirius, he'd always been worried about how Sirius would have taken it. So, he never mentioned it to him. It was the only thing he'd ever kept from his godfather on purpose.

He knew that Sirius loved him, and would have done, did actually do, anything and everything for him, but Harry also grew up in the Dursley's house. And, he knew how much Sirius tried to separate himself from anything even remotely related to his family. And his family were all Slytherins.

 **(The door swung open... not someone to cross.)**

"That didn't seem to ever stop you, though, now did it?" Minerva asked, her lips twitching in amusement. Which also completely destroyed the stern air she was trying to project.

"We love you too, Minnie." The Twins, Harry, and the Marauder's all said at the same time, with the same huge cheeky grins on their faces. They purposefully avoided actually answering her question. Especially since they decided to take it as a rhetorical one.

Snape blinked at them all before he grimaced. He refused to show his emotions, the sheer horror and fear he felt at hearing them all talk at the same time like that. He would not give them that satisfaction, he refused. They could smell fear.

Minerva scowled at them, but knew by now it would be pointless to say anything about the nickname. If anything, it would only encourage them.

Everyone else leaned away from the five of them in fear, proving Severus's point that they smelled fear when they all grinned impishly.

 **("The firs' years,... Dursley's house in it.)**

The Dursleys made a sound like a strangled cat. How dare he compare his freakish school to their beautiful, normal home!

 **(The stone walls were... to the upper floors.)**

"Whoa." _Harry, Hermione,_ and both Dudley's said. The place sounded amazing. And so far the only part of the castle described was the entrance hall.

The wizards (the ones who had been there before) all smiled at their reactions. Maybe later they could take a day and turn the Room into the Hogwarts interior, and let the younger kids explore. See it for themselves.

They were in a time-bubble after all, so they kind of had all the time in the world to take a day or even a week to themselves between books.

A fact that was perfect for the teachers plans to educate _Dudley._

 **(They followed Professor... must already be here-)**

"I really wish the boats would go faster." Ron grumbled.

"What's wrong, don't like waiting for the first years?" Hermione asked, amused.

"No! No I do not. They take forever, and I'm hungry by the time they finally do get Sorted." Ron said. Everyone laughed and/shook their heads in exasperation.

Ron and his stomach. Unbelievable.

 **(but Professor McGonagall... family within Hogwarts.)**

Harry scowled at that part of the speech, and the Weasley's, Percy and younger, plus Hermione and Neville grimaced.

Unfortunately, while Hogwarts was home for Harry, Gryffindor was never a family. Especially with how they idolized him one day, and then vilified him the next.

Everyone else in the tower usually accused Harry of being antisocial and thinking he was better then them, and, well, they never really gave him a reason to WANT to hang out with anyone outside the Weasley's. Even the Quidditch team, his first and second year, was guilty of accusing Harry of stuff he didn't do.

McGonagall caught their expressions and frowned. Just what was she going to be hearing about in regards to her Lions?

 **(You will have classes... Ravenclaw, and Slytherin.)**

The Gryffindor's cheered when their house was called, while Sprout smiled at Hufflepuff, Luna and Flitwick grinned at each other for Ravenclaw, and the Slytherin's reacted in their heads.

Cheering out loud like all the Gryffindor's in the room was undignified, after all. Severus sighed softly, the Lions always were the rowdiest of the bunch.

Always.

It had been rather... unsettling, for the Gryffindor's table to be so quiet this past year.

It actually made him especially curious as to what the Hat said to Harry, because to be honest, from what they'd read so far Harry Potter did not seem like the type to appreciate the constant noise. Not to mention the Slytherin-like tendencies he'd shown so far.

 **(Each house has its... witches and wizards.)**

"Each has produced good wizards, and each has produced its own share of bad." Harry said softly, eyeing Ron and Sirius. Those two were the ones most outspoken in their hatred of Slytherin, while claiming the other houses to be good, with Gryffindor obviously being the best.

Ron and Sirius both blinked at him, before giving him sheepish looks.

Sirius guessed that some of his future self's behavior towards Slytherin might have made Harry uncomfortable or something. Especially with him being a parselmouth and all.

 **(While you are... house becomes yours.)**

"And you all have been." She said, smiling at her students, old and current. "In your own ways." She smiled at Draco.

He blinked at her in surprise. Given his attitude and actions towards her Lions over the years... he didn't expect the compliment.

 **("The Sorting Ceremony... flatten his hair.)**

Remus chuckled while Sirius let out a short bark of laughter. James had done the same thing. "Sorry to tell you, pup, but you got the Potter hair." Sirius said with a grin.

"The bane of all Potter women for centuries." Remus smiled fondly, remembering how Lily always tried to tame it, only for her efforts to fail.

"Your grandfather practically tripled the already substantial family fortune when he invented a hair potion that actually works on it." Sirius snorted, reaching to ruffle his boys hair.

"How substantial?" Harry asked, after he and little him batted Sirius's hand away from his already messy hair.

"Quite. We'll have to sit down and go over it with you two later. We'll probably have to make a day of it." Remus said.

The Harry's frowned, but nodded. Harry scowled at Dumbledore. He was going to have to have a long discussion with his Headmaster about withholding information about his family from him.

 **("I shall return... "Please wait quietly.")**

A few snorted. "Yeah, until the ghosts show up." Neville muttered. He'd been terrified when they appeared out of nowhere like they did.

"Asking a group of nervous eleven year olds to wait quietly." Remus muttered, glaring at Sirius and rubbing an ear.

Harry noticed that Severus was glaring at Sirius too, and rubbing his left ear...

Harry decided he didn't want to know when he saw the smirk on Sirius face.

 **(She left the chamber... he was joking.")**

"Whoa, I think that's the first thing your brothers told you so far that you didn't take seriously." Hermione said, giving Ron a congratulatory pat on the back. Ron scowled while the Twins smirked.

Ron glared at them all.

 **(Harry's heart gave... he have to do?)**

"And here is where Ickle Harrykins starts to panic..."

"... and get dramatic on us." The Twins said with a grin, Harry just scowled at them.

 **(He hadn't expected... which one she'd need.)**

"My dear, we would not test anyone's magical skill when we haven't even bothered to teach anybody anything yet. I know you want to know everything you can, but perhaps you should slow down." Sprout suggested to _Hermione_. She knew it would be somewhat useless to make the suggestion to Hermione, the girl was already in her seventh year, and, to be honest, she had already slowed down significantly since the troll incident in her first year, when she became practically attached at the hip with the boys.

Both Hermione's turned slightly red with embarrassment.

 **(** **Harry tried hard not to listen to her.)**

"Hey!" Hermione said indignantly.

"You were just making me more nervous!" Harry defended himself. Ron and Neville nodded in agreement, while Draco snickered at their discomfort. Of course, he would never admit that her constant muttering had actually been making him nervous, too.

Despite the fact that his father told him ahead of time what to expect.

 **(He'd never been more... his teacher's wig blue.)**

Everyone was laughing, although several of the adults were concerned about what his punishment for that one would have been.

Sirius and Remus ignored that thought and congratulated the boys on a well-done bit of accidental magic. Unlike in the Dursley home, accidental magic was celebrated and looked forward to everywhere else. Parents looked forward to their child performing accidental magic just as much as they looked forward to their child's first words or steps.

Of course, Harry was 'accidentally' summoning anything and everything to him since just after the first few months. Shiny objects were the most common... along with the stuffed dog Sirius gave him, of course.

"I don't remember hearing any stories like that from the other teachers." Remus said curiously.

Harry shook his head, "This was the teacher they brought in to replace you. He was making some... comments towards both me and Dudley, the next thing I knew, his wig was blue." He said with a shrug.

Dudley snickered. "It certainly got his mind off what he was saying."

 **(He kept his eyes... to his doom.)**

"And here come the dramatics!" The Twins said cheerfully, Harry didn't even bother, he just rolled his eyes. Everyone could see the amusement there, though.

 **(Then something happened... behind him screamed.)**

"What?" Molly and Sirius yelped, they didn't expect anyone to be screaming.

Minerva grinned into her hand, she knew what this was, but at the same time wanted to leave the two hanging for just a few more moments.

 **("What the-?"**

 **He gasped... through the back wall.)**

Molly and Sirius both breathed a sigh of relief. It was just the ghosts making an appearance. They remembered this now. If they remembered right, every year the ghosts, at least those less liable to scare the children, appeared under the pretense of discussing what to do with Peeves. Just so they could have an excuse for being in the room with the first-years.

They actually suspected Minerva asked them to do it so the children weren't left alone in the room without adult supervision. Especially since sometimes they got Heirs in there that were from rival families. Like the Weasley's and Malfoys. (Even though Ron wasn't the Heir.)

Of the Dursleys, both Petunia's looked ready to faint, while the Vernon's were turning purple and muttering something about getting the Freak out of their house as soon as possible, and both Dudley's looked fascinated.

 **(Pearly-white and... a second chance-")**

"Peeves." Everyone said, while the younger kids who had yet to go to Hogwarts looked confused on what they were talking about.

Neville even scowled. Although he and Peeves had reached a sort-of truce this past year, with Peeves focusing his attention on the Carrows instead of the students, Peeves had made it a point to focus on him for the first six years of his education, with the sole exception of when Umbridge was there.

"I'm actually pretty sure he's had hundreds of chances..." Remus muttered. Peeves hadn't liked him as much as he liked James and Sirius, and made it a point of targeting him when those two weren't around.

 **("My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves?)**

"Exactly." Remus and Minerva said.

 **(He gives us all a... you all doing here?")**

Minerva snorted and shook her head. She didn't know why the ghosts insisted on putting on this show every year, but, if it helped keep an eye on the students while she was making sure they were ready in the Great Hall...

 **(A ghost wearing a ruff and tights had suddenly noticed the first years.)**

"Nearly Headless Nick!" Fred yelled.

"Oh, I love it when the firsties ask him how he can be nearly headless." George whispered to his brother.

"I know, the looks on their faces!"

"Although I wish they would stop asking while the rest of us are trying to eat."

"Good point, brother, no matter how many times we see it, we don't want to see it while we are trying to eat."

 **(Nobody answered...** **people nodded mutely.)**

A few of the teachers snorted in amusement. The Muggleborns and raised, ok, but they would have thought that the wizard raised kids wouldn't find the presence of a ghost so shocking or terrifying. Honestly, they grew up knowing ghosts were real. Not to mention the parents would be remiss not to warn them about Peeves.

 **("Hope to see you...** **through the opposite wall.)**

Sirius had a nostalgic look in his eye, he missed those days, they were so simple. And carefree. Back then, they didn't worry about anything except who they were going to prank next and what the prank would be. Not even his mother's Howlers put a damper on his spirits. Well, not for long, anyway.

 **("Now, form a line,"...** **and splendid place.)**

 _Harry_ cocked his head to the side curiously (and cutely if you asked the girls opinion). He really wanted to see this place, so far it sounded amazing, but what was so strange about the Great Hall?

 **(It was lit by thousands... students were sitting.)**

"How do you keep the wax from dripping all over everybody?" Dudley asked.

"Magic." Was what everybody answered with.

"Oh, right." Dudley said while he turned red with embarrassment. It was really obvious now that they said it.

 **(These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets.)**

"They used to be silver." Minerva said with a shrug. "Albus had them changed to gold when Remus here came to school."

"Why was it changed just for one student?" _Ron_ asked, confused.

Everyone froze and glanced at Remus. They knew how sensitive the topic was for him. And the Trio knew Ron had not reacted well at the end of third year in the Shack.

"Er, we'll explain later." Remus finally told the boy. _Ron_ and _Hermione_ both frowned, but they said nothing. _Harry_ looked at Remus, worried. He had been told last night, and he honestly didn't care, but he had also been told that some people would. And they would be terrified of him.

 **(At the top of the... flickering candle-light.)**

"That's a lot of kids." Dudley said. He had never considered before how many wizards there were...

"Yup, and that's just our school. There are a couple smaller schools in Britain... mostly just a few families getting together for a home-school study group type thing, and then, of course, there is the rest of the world." Minerva said proudly.

"Not to mention all the magical species out there with there own cultures and governing councils and such; the Dwarves, Goblins, Veela, Vampires, even the Werewolves to an extent. And those are just a few of them out there." Remus added on with a shrug. Sirius and the Weasley Twins were enjoying the looks of horror on the Dursley's faces.

Honestly, they could care less that they were Muggles, it was their attitudes. The Dursley's honestly reminded everyone there of Death Eaters.

The Dudley's and _Hermione_ looked awed at hearing the extent of the Magical World. And Remus only mentioned a few of the more sentient races, he didn't even mention the ones that weren't sentient. Like Dragons, Hippogriffs, and the rest. They were smart, but according to the Ministry, they couldn't speak any language humans could understand, so they weren't sentient.

Nobody mentioned the fact that even at this point, years later, the wizarding population in Britain was still rebuilding from the last war. And that it was only after Harry's year that the class sizes started to grow again. A lot of children were born out of the celebrations going on after that Halloween.

 **(Dotted here and there... _Hogwarts, A History_.")**

"Whoa. Sounds amazing." _Hermione_ whispered, and _Harry_ nodded in agreement.

Minerva looked up and smiled. Then she motioned for the kids to look up, which they did. The four eleven year olds were in awe, while the other kids all smiled softly. It was like a little bit of home.

 **(It was hard to believe... on to the heavens.)**

"I like it best during the winter. When there's enchanted snow falling." Ginny said. Harry nodded in agreement. He didn't like being cold, but he loved the snow. So, being in the nice, warm Hall, while still enjoying the snowfall, was the best.

"I like it best during storms, it's fun watching the lightning flash across the ceiling. The lightning is pretty." Luna added in with her own opinion. Ginny cocked her head to the side, but nodded that Luna had a point.

 **(Harry quickly looked... let it in the house.)**

"No, I most certainly would not." Both Petunia's said in disgust. They eyed Sprout, who still had some dirt on her despite being in this room overnight and not in her precious Greenhouses. Sprout just raised an eyebrow at her look and ignored her. Excuse her for working hard in her life.

 _ **(Maybe they had to try and get a rabbit out of it,**_ **Harry thought wildly,)**

"A rabbit? Why would we do something like that?" Bill asked, confused.

"Its a Muggle thing. Muggle magicians entertain people with tricks and slight of hands, and call them magic tricks. Part of the fun is in not knowing how they did it, or for some people, in figuring it out. Pulling a rabbit out of a hat is one of them, they show the crowd an empty hat, but then they reach in and pull a rabbit out of it." Hermione explained.

"How? They don't have magic." Fred asked, confused. His brother and him and never heard of this.

"Personally, I think the hat has a false bottom, hiding the rabbit from view until the magician is ready." Harry said with a shrug. "But I've never really looked into it or anything."

"Of course, some of those magicians are actual wizards, pretending to do slight of hands and tricks, when they are really doing actual magic." Hermione added with another shrug.

Remus coughed, "I was one of those, when things get desperate and I haven't found another job in a while... It's surprisingly good money to perform on street corners. Especially if you know where the hotspots are."

 **(that seemed the... the hat began to sing:)**

"Wait, what? There is no way that thing can actually sing. Can it?" Dudley and _Hermione_ both said at the same time. Ignoring the Petunia's small shriek of disgust and the Vernon's scowling.

"Magic." Everyone else said with a shrug. Nobody knew how the thing did it, it was a thousand years old, created by some of the greatest wizards and witches to ever live.

 _ **"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,**_

 _ **But don't judge on what you see,**_

 _ **I'll eat myself if you can find**_

 _ **A smarter hat than me.**_

 _ **You can keep your bowlers black,**_

 _ **Your top hats sleek and tall,**_

 _ **For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat**_

 _ **And I can cap them all.**_

 _ **There's nothing hidden in your head**_

 _ **The Sorting Hat can't see,**_

 _ **So try me on and I will tell you**_

 _ **Where you ought to be.**_

 _ **You might belong in Gryffindor,**_

 _ **Where dwell the brave at heart,**_

 _ **Their daring, nerve, and chivalry**_

 ** _Set Gryffindors apart;_**

 ** _You might belong in Hufflepuff,_**

 ** _Where they are just and loyal,_**

 ** _Those patient Hufflepuffs are true_**

 ** _And unafraid of toil;_**

 ** _Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,_**

 ** _If you've a ready mind,_**

 ** _Where those of wit and learning,_**

 ** _Will always find their kind;_**

 ** _Or perhaps in Slytherin_**

 ** _You'll make your real friends,_**

 ** _Those cunning folk use any means_**

 ** _To achieve their ends._**

 ** _So put me on! Don't be afraid!_**

 ** _And don't get in a flap!_**

 ** _You're in safe hands (though I have none)_**

 ** _For I'm a Thinking Cap!"_**

"Does he spend all year trying to think of a new song?" Harry asked Dumbledore. He figured the old man would be the one to know, since the hat was in his office.

"Yes, actually. Although a lot of the time he uses is mostly spent listening to what is going on in the outside world, or trying to get Fawkes to leave him alone and stop pranking him." Albus said with a fond smile on his face.

"Fawkes plays pranks?" Sirius asked, surprised.

"Yeah, you never knew that?" Fred, George, and Harry all said, surprised. Sirius shook his head, confused.

"Well, you don't know what you were missing then. That bird is devious." Harry informed his godfather seriously.

 **(The whole hall burst...** **about wrestling a troll.")**

The Trio all froze, and looked at each other. Finally, Harry asked, "Er, Ron, you wouldn't happen to have had a seer somewhere in your family tree, would you?" The Heads of House looked confused for a moment, before they remembered the Troll incident.

"I don't think so..." Ron turned to his parents, who both shook their heads and shrugged.

"I don't know, I've never seen our family tree... I know there used to be a tapestry in the old Weasley Farmhouse... but when it got seized by the bank and sold to the Malfoys... rumors have it that they gathered everything of ours that was still inside and didn't have any monetary value and had a giant bonfire with it." Arthur said slowly.

The Draco's eyes widened. They didn't know their family did that! No wonder the Weasley family hated them so much, and here they were raised thinking the Weasley's were just jealous that the Malfoy's had everything they wanted. Well, there was actually some truth to that... if his manor was actually the Weasley ancestral home... and if his family was really in possession of Weasley family heirlooms... and then burned the rest... oh man. No wonder the Weasley's hated everything Malfoy so much.

He had to get them their stuff back. Everyone jumped in surprise when a jumble of stuff appeared in the corner, a giant tapestry depicting a family tree among them. All of it had what used to be known as the Weasley Family Crest on them, although some of them looked as though somebody tried to remove it but was only partially successful. And some of the stuff, like the tapestry, looked a little singed around the edges, as though someone really had tried to burn it.

Arthur gasped, he had never seen any of this, he had been very young when they lost the Farmhouse, but his father made sure his son recognized his own family crest. Whether they used it anymore or not. He got up and went over to investigate, studying the family tapestry, and running a hand across some of the jewelry, some of which Draco recognized as some of his mother's favorite pieces. His father had gotten them out of the family vaults just for her.

The rest of the Weasley clan watched with grins while their father went through their heirlooms, with only Bill joining him when Arthur beckoned him over.

 **(Harry smiled weakly... been the one for him.)**

"If that house existed, then everybody would be in it." Sirius said, while the professors nodded in agreement.

 **(Professor McGonagall now... said. "Abbott, Hannah!")**

Sirius nodded and turned to his godsons. "The Abbott's are long time business partners in many of the Potter family businesses. They have also been good political allies in the past." He informed them. He wanted _Harry_ to start learning this stuff, and he might as well bring a couple of names to his attention now, during the Sorting.

Both Harry's nodded in understanding, and _Harry_ committed the name to memory while Harry thought the explanation actually explained a few things he noticed with Hannah over the years.

 **(A pink-faced girl... shouted the hat.)**

Sirius nodded, no surprise there, the Abbott's were one of those families that generally stuck with one House at Hogwarts. Like the Malfoys and Blacks in Slytherin, and the Potters in Gryffindor. Of course, there were always exceptions... himself being a prime example.

 **(The table on the... waving merrily at her.)**

"The Fat Friar is one of the more helpful ghosts, if you ever get lost or need to find a teacher, and he happens to be nearby, he'll help you out, no problem." Remus informed the _Trio_ and _Draco_. They all nodded in thanks.

 **("Bones, Susan!")**

"The bones and Abbott's generally do everything together. Getting either them or the Potters on your side politically is usually considered to be the biggest challenge to getting any Bill or Law passed. And, again, they were usually allied with the Potters." Sirius continued his commentary.

"Amelia Bones was also the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement." Remus informed Sirius.

"WAS?!" Moody demanded. Amelia often said she would never willingly step down, not while the Ministry was such a mess. And he didn't see her accepting a promotion...

"We suspect that Riddle dealt with her personally..." Remus looked at Severus questioningly.

He grimaced, but nodded. "She put up a fight, took out five of us before we managed to subdue her... After that the Dark Lord decided he would finish her personally, before that he wanted to 'let' me test a new potion on her." He explained reluctantly.

Moody frowned, "Well, my times Amelia is still around, and its her that I'm going to to get you released." He informed his old student. Amelia was one of the few he trusted without question, he wasn't going to let anything happen to her if he could help it, and it just so happened that he could.

 **("HUFFLEPUFF!")**

"Now, the Bones family usually jumps between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor." Remus said in amusement.

Moody smirked.

 **(shouted the hat... "Boot, Terry!")**

Sirius stayed quiet, since he didn't recognize this name from Pureblood circles. Which meant the boy was either Muggleborn, or only second or third generation half-blood.

 **("RAVENCLAW!" The second... "Brocklehurst, Mandy.")**

"That family jumps between Ravenclaw and Slytherin, they also tend to keep to themselves and stay in the background." Sirius said, recognizing the name as a minor Pureblood House, he couldn't even remember if they made noble status or not.

 **(went to Ravenclaw too,... brothers catcalling.)**

"Boys." Molly warned.

"Don't worry..."

"...yeah, we don't mean..."

"... anything by it."

"We do it every year to..."

"...all the new Lionesses." The Twins said. Charlie, Percy, and Ron all nodded in agreement. They did. Minerva just hid her amused grin. Honestly, the firsties liked it when they did that, it actually made them feel more welcome and relaxed. She made sure to ask when the boys started doing it.

Molly fixed them with a stern glare, but said nothing.

 **("Bulstrode, Millicent")**

"Be careful around the Bulstrodes. They were occasional allies with the Black Family. Also, suspected supporters of Voldemort." Sirius warned.

"Actually, her uncles were Marked, while her father was a silent supporter." Severus said. To be a silent supporter meant that they funded the Dark Lord's projects, and did some of the political legwork, but they didn't do any fighting. He shrugged when Moody turned to look at him.

"Why couldn't you have been this talkative during the past few years?" He demanded. He'd been randomly showing up at Hogwarts for the past few years trying to get Severus to give up some of his old Death Eater buddies, but no luck.

"Part of the magic in the Mark ensures that we cannot talk about certain things with those who are unmarked. The identities of fellow Death Eaters, for one. I have, of course, found ways around it over the years, but... if people were to suddenly start being arrested, not long after you had been seen at Hogwarts, where I was, I would have been the first one the Death Eaters came after." Severus explained with a sigh. He noticed Moody adding to his list and added to his own letter, warning his younger self to be careful.

"Then how did Karkaroff...?" Harry started to ask.

"He was only giving names that the Ministry official already knew about. When he finally gave one that they didn't know, he was just throwing out random names without thinking about it." Severus informed them.

 **(then became a Slytherin... an unpleasant lot.)**

"Inbreeding." Hermione and Harry both said. When Draco looked at them confused, Hermione caused a Muggle science book to fall on his head, with the chapters on genetics bookmarked, along with the glossary at the back so he could look up the Muggle words he didn't understand. She didn't feel like explaining it.

"Why do I want to read this?" He asked with a sneer as he looked at the Muggle thing in his hand, rubbing his head.

"Because, you may not think much of Muggles, but they understand how the human body works in ways that Wizards just don't. Mostly because they take the time to study it, but also because Wizards tend to ignore Muggle discoveries, even though the discovery of the human genome's basic structure is forty to fifty years old. Granted, there is still much they don't know, but..." She finished with a shrug.

"Genetics is a concept that even Muggle children have a basic understanding of, yet Wizards have no idea." Harry added.

 _"_ We just started working on that in science class last week." _Harry_ added on, just to prove his older self's point. "The very basics, anyway."

The Draco's looked to Severus, but he just nodded in agreement, even he knew about it, but he also went to Muggle primary school when he was a boy. Although he had a feeling that the school's probably went into a bit more detail with it now.

 **(He was starting to... think they liked him.)**

Dudley winced at that, and apologized to his cousin. "He was actually the fastest kid in class, which was something that everyone wanted on their team, but... yeah..."

 **("Finch-Fletchley, Justin!"...** **hat eagerly on her head.)**

A few teachers chuckled at her eagerness. If only that eagerness hadn't resulted in essays triple the amount they asked for...

"I know your eager, dear," Sprout looked at _Hermione,_ who was practically bouncing in her seat. "But do remember to slow down and enjoy yourself. School is also a time to have fun and meet people, make friends."

 **("GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat. Ron groaned.)**

"I did leave a bad impression, didn't I?" Hermione asked before Molly could start with a grimace. Harry shrugged, while Ron sunk down into his seat. Personally, he hadn't minded. But, she had come on a little strong.

 **(A horrible thought struck Harry, as horrible thoughts always do when you're very nervous.)**

"Here we go." A few people muttered. They knew Harry could get dramatic, but they also knew that he sometimes didn't voice his dramatic concerns.

 **(What if he wasn't... back on the train?)**

"Not going to happen." All the adults said, amused. Harry sunk back in his seat and shrugged while studying his shoes. They were very interesting right now.

 **(When Neville Longbottom,... decide with Neville.)**

"It couldn't decide between Gryffindor or Hufflepuff." He said with a shrug.

Sirius nodded, "The Longbottom family is another that always jumps between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff." He said with a shrug.

"Really?" Neville asked, surprised. At Sirius own surprised look, he explained. "According to Gran, our family has always been Gryffindor."

"I don't know why she would say that, she herself was a Hufflepuff." Minerva said with a frown. She started another letter, this one to her old friend.

"REALLY?" Neville asked in shock. All the adults nodded in concern, but he just ignored them and stared at the floor for a while.

 **(When it finally shouted, "GRYFFINDOR," Neville ran off still wearing it,)**

"That was really funny." Harry informed his friend. Neville just sighed and shrugged, smiling at Harry.

 **(and had to jog...** **left now.**

 **"Moon"..., "Nott")**

"The Nott's are nearly as Dark as the Blacks, watch out for them."

 **(..., "Parkinson")**

"They are usually with the Malfoys, watch out for them too."

 **(..., then a pair of twin girls, "Patil" and "Patil")**

"I think Patil was the name of the new ambassador from India?" Sirius questioned, and Remus confirmed. "Right, so if you want to know what's going on internationally, ask them."

 **(..., then "Perks, Sally-Anne"..., and then, at last-**

 **"Potter, Harry!")**

"Definitely watch out for that one, I hear that family is full of trouble-makers." Sirius said with a grin as he hugged said Harry Potter, both of them just laughed while everyone else watching just smiled.

 **(As Harry stepped... all over the hall.)**

Harry stopped laughing and just sighed. He was quite familiar with those hisses over the years. And it was still so annoying. Was a little bit of privacy too much to ask sometimes?

 _Harry_ looked worried and a little scared as he heard what the Hogwarts population was going to be like.

 **(" _Potter,_ did she say?"...** **good look at him.)**

"Oh, yes, lets all stare at the boy like he's a rare animal at a zoo exhibit." Sirius grumbled.

The Twins got smirks on their faces. "And, in this pen, ladies and gentlemen..."

"...although its more like a couch..."

"...we have the uniquely rare, one of a kind..."

"...Harry Potter!" Both Twins said in unison, gesturing towards Harry grandly.

"This newly discovered species is highly unique..."

"...and easily identified by the lightning bolt shaped..."

"...scar on his forehead. He walks, talks, and has the..."

"...occasional run-in with insane Dark Lords."

"If you would like a conversation, that would be..."

"Five Galleons." The Twins finished, holding their hands out for the requested five Galleons, only to be disappointed (not really, they were very pleased with themselves) when everyone was either laughing too hard or sitting there smirking.

Molly would have started in on them, but she saw how much both Harry's were laughing at the Twins performance, so she sighed and shook her head fondly before chuckling a bit herself.

 **(Next second he was... He waited.)**

Everyone leaned forward in interest. Harry had been under the Hat for a long time, after all. And only two, maybe three people in the room knew the Hat almost put him in Slytherin.

 **("Hmm," said a small... shall I put you?")**

A couple of people were surprised. They would have thought it would've been an automatic Gryffindor. But... they supposed Harry did display a lot of Slytherin or even Hufflepuff tendencies sometimes.

 **(Harry gripped the edges... _not Slytherin_.)**

"What's wrong with Slytherin?" Draco demanded.

"At this point I only heard bad things about Slytherin, that and you were there." Harry explained with a shrug.

Draco blinked and sat back in his seat. That was very true.

 **("Not Slytherin, eh?"... -better be GRYFFINDOR!")**

A few people looked shocked at how close Harry came to being Slytherin.

Harry looked at Sirius in concern, but Sirius just grinned at him and tightened his arms around both him and his younger self, causing Harry to sigh in relief.

Inwardly, Sirius was beating himself up, just how had his older self behaved for Harry to be worried like this? He wanted to find his older self and beat him up after hexing him to the moon and back. And then he was going to beat up the Dursleys for making Harry doubt himself so much.

 **(Harry heard the hat... ice-cold water.)**

Everyone shuddered. They really wished the ghosts would stop doing that. On the other hand, though, Madam Pomfrey used them every once in a while on the rare occasion when a student had a particularly high fever and none of the potions had any effect on it.

 **(He could see the... large purple turban.)**

Dumbledore sat up slowly. "He wasn't wearing that in the Leaky Cauldron, was he?" He asked curiously. Now, they were getting closer to where they could find out if his theories were correct.

"Nope." Harry said, he gave Dumbledore a warning look. He had not appreciated being tested like this. At the time, he may not have really cared, but he sure cared later when he'd had a chance to look back.

 **(And now there were... pale green by now.)**

"Aw, don't worry Ronnie, we wouldn't have cared if you weren't in Gryffindor." the Twins said. Although, they were a little concerned that Ron had been nervous enough to be sick, especially after the conversation Ron and Harry had on the train in the previous chapter.

 **(Harry crossed his fingers... "Zabini, Blaise,")**

"Watch out for his mother. I don't know how much of the rumors regarding what happened to her ex-husbands are true, but what is true is that that family specializes in poisons and... other stuff." He said, glancing at the boys and figuring that the rest of the sentence wasn't really appropriate for them to learn about.

"Didn't they come from Italy?" Remus asked, and Sirius nodded.

 **(was made a Slytherin... seemed ages ago.)**

Sirius barked out a short laugh. "Once everything is over, and the nerves are gone, then the appetite comes back." He said in amusement.

 **(Albus Dumbledore had... see them all there.)**

"Nothing makes me happier than to see students learning." Dumbledore said softly. The teachers smiled. They may have been a little angry with Dumbledore regarding Harry's living arrangements, but none of them could deny he cared for his students and loved teaching.

 **("Welcome!" he said... Oddment! Tweak!")**

"Huh? What are you spouting off now?" Sirius asked in wonder and confusion. He didn't think he would ever understand the old man.

Dumbledore just winked and tapped the side of his nose, which added to the confusion.

 **("Thank you!"... "Is he- a bit mad?")**

"Yes, yes he is." Several people said. Dumbledore didn't even bother trying to deny it. He just shrugged. He preferred the term, 'well-aged'. Which, of course, meant sometimes that he said or did things the younger generation didn't understand. He was over a hundred years old, after all.

 **(he asked Percy... Potatoes, Harry?")**

"I thought the tables didn't have food on them? And the book didn't mention a buffet line or something." Dudley said, confused.

All the wizards smiled and motioned to the books.

 **(Harry's mouth fell open... piled with food.)**

"What? How?" _Dudley_ asked.

"Magic." Everyone said. Once more, both Dudley's felt like they should have known, since that did seem like the obvious answer. Although they noticed that Hermione didn't look particularly happy about it. Nobody really wanted to bring up the topic of House-Elves right now.

 **(He had never seen... reason, peppermint humbugs.)**

"I'll give you a reason for the peppermint," Minerva said. And all four Heads of House pointed to Dumbledore, who just shrugged again.

"The Head Cook tells me that peppermint actually brings out certain flavors? Or something like that? I don't know, Tippy recommended it, so I approved it." He said with a shrug.

They all ignored the Ron's and the Dudley's drooling over the food.

"Mom? Can we...?" _Ron_ asked.

"Yes, we can eat soon."

 **(The Dursleys had never exactly starved Harry.)**

"Pup, we obviously have very different definitions of the word, 'starve'." Sirius said, glaring at the Dursleys.

"The malnutrition I've been treating you for every year says otherwise, Mr. Potter." Madam Pomfrey said.

"Malnutrition?" Harry asked, confused. He was being treated? When?

"Every year, I've noticed you look thinner than you should, so I put you on a nutrient potions regime at the beginning of every year, and then I adapt it as needed after you end up in the Hospital Wing and I have a chance to run scans. Since it doesn't usually take long for you to end up in my domain..." She shrugged. "Every year, I take my concerns to the Headmaster, but he refuses to hear of any kind of neglect." She finished when she noticed Sirius giving her an odd look. It had been a constant argument between her and the Headmaster.

Dumbledore frowned. Was he that desperate for Harry to be safe, that he risked his health?

 **(but he'd never... made him sick.)**

Dudley went red. "That's actually the only reason why he would ever eat his vegetables. If I showed an interest in them." Harry said, amused. "That only happened a few times though." Dudley went even redder.

 **(Harry piled his plate... cut up his steak.)**

"The first steak I ever had." Harry said, looking dazed as he remembered his first taste of steak. The Dursleys hadn't liked letting him have the more expensive food, they considered it wasteful.

Sirius looked angry again, but both Harry's leaned into him again. _Harry_ leaned over him towards Harry and whispered that they should make steaks for dinner that night. Sirius perked up, it had been a while since he had steak. He knew that _Harry_ only suggested that to distract him, and he gladly let them.

 **("Can't you-?"... ghost of Gryffindor Tower.")**

"He's another helpful ghost, he'll help anyone, but he prefers to hang around the Lion's Maze, so it can be pretty difficult to find him sometimes, especially for non-Gryffindors." Remus informed.

"'Lion's Maze'? What's that? I've never heard of it, I thought all of the castle was open to everyone." Draco said, confused. The other non-Gryffindors, even the teachers and Severus, nodded. Lily never told him anything about a Lion's Maze.

Unfortunately, the Gryffindor's weren't talking. There was an unused wing of the castle near the Tower, in fact it was an actual maze, full of unused rooms. Well, unused to the rest of the school. Some were regular classrooms, others were training and exercise rooms. It was perfect for the Lions. And, although the Quidditch team tried many times to get Oliver to let them meet in one of those training rooms, he very rarely did. He always asked how they were supposed to play in all weather, if they didn't practice in it.

And, since it was the Lions territory, much like the Dungeons were for the Snakes, they could be in the Maze as long as they wanted without worrying about curfew, well, as long as they were IN the actual common room by one o'clock.

Unlike the Dungeons, though, nobody outside the Tower knew about it. It had the added affect, not that anyone actually knew this, of nobody being able to even see it let alone enter, unless they were a Gryffindor.

 **("I know who you... Nearly Headless Nick!")**

"Nearly Headless?" Dudley repeated nervously.

"Oh, I heard about him, my mother told me about it when we figured out I was a Squib." Mrs. Figg said.

"How is he nearly headless?" _Dudley_ asked, nervously. They were both thinking about Halloween stories of the Headless Horsemen.

"I think... Seamus asked that very question."

 **("I would _prefer_ if... be _nearly_ headless?")**

Fred sighed. " _I_ much prefer it when they ask after we get to the common room." He said.

"And not when we're trying to eat." George agreed.

"No matter how many times you see it, there's just some things you don't want to watch during dinner." Harry added with a grimace.

"Eh, you learn to ignore the firsties end of the table when Nick is around there." Hermione said with a shrug. Everyone paused, then nodded their heads in agreement. That was very true. Even those in the other houses learned to avoid it, they didn't want to watch something like that while they were eating either.

 **(Sir Nicholas looked extremely... the way he wanted.)**

"Nah, I asked. He actually loves it when he's asked that. Said seeing the firsties faces when they see him for the first time is one of his few remaining pleasures." Harry said. All the Gryffindors nodded in agreement. That was long suspected to be the case, it's just nobody felt like actually asking him.

 **("Like _this,"_ he said... on a hinge.)**

The younger kids all made sounds or faces of disgust, while the Petunia's looked like they might have a panic attack. Those who's seen Nick's act before watched in amusement.

They didn't know why, but watching other peoples reactions was always amusing.

 **(Someone had obviously... on their faces.)**

"See?" Most of the Gryffindors said when their point was proven.

 **(Nearly Headless Nick... six years in a row!)**

Severus shot Minerva a smug look, which Minerva just scowled at.

 **(The Bloody Baron's... with silver blood.)**

"Er, I don't suppose any of you know what that's about?" Dudley asked.

Everyone, even Luna, shook their heads no. "Both the Baron and the Grey Lady refuse to share their stories. All I know about the Grey Lady is that her real name is Helena Ravenclaw. The daughter of Rowena Ravenclaw." Luna said. "Oh, don't call her that though, I think she had a big fight with her mother and they never made up. Because it's a really sensitive topic." She warned.

"I do know, though, that the Grey Lady and the Baron are the two oldest ghosts in Hogwarts, they were the first, have been there almost as long as the school herself. They also avoid each other as much as possible." Dumbledore added in.

 **(He was right next... the seating arrangements.)**

"I wasn't." Draco muttered with a grimace.

"He is, though, another ghost that will be more than happy to help. If you can find him outside the Dungeons, that is. And you aren't planning anything against the Slytherins... oh, and as long as your polite." Remus said.

"Speaking from experience, Lupin?" Severus asked, softly and with a dangerous edge to his voice.

"Not personal, no." Remus said, and gestured towards Sirius, who shrugged.

"If it makes you feel any better, I was targeting my brother and cousins."

 **("How did he get... treacle tarts,)**

Harry moaned, and before anybody knew it, he had _Harry_ pulled down on the floor with him where the two boys could each lean up against one of Sirius's legs, and planning something in whispers. From what Sirius and Remus managed to over hear, they were planning a full steak dinner with treacle tart and couple of other things for dessert.

"Hey, cub," Remus said, Harry looked up and nodded before going back to his conversation.

"We're gonna have to make a couple of them extra rare for Bill and Remus." He said quietly. And with that, both boys went back to planning.

 **(chocolate eclairs and... "Me dad's a Muggle.)**

Severus said up, that could either turn out very well, or very poorly.

 **(Mom didn't tell... shock for him.")**

"He treats him and his mother well? Mr. Finnegan's father." Severus asked Seamus's dorm-mates.

They all nodded. "Yeah, he talks about his dad all the time. I guess Seamus' mom got special permission to take him to Quidditch games, you know, because he's Muggle and their magic, and he loves it." Neville said.

Severus sank back into his seat. "Good." And left it at that.

 **(The others laughed... I nearly drowned-)**

"WHAT?!" All the adults yelled, which made Neville cringe slightly.

"Where was Augusta during this?" Minerva demanded.

"She was at the Wizengamot. She leaves me with Uncle Algie when she has to go places and she can't bring me." He said, eyes wide. Dumbledore's eyes darkened, but he kept his magic in check this time. Forcing magic out of a child was almost as dangerous as trying to stamp it out. The problem with forcing it out, is that there is less damage done to the surrounding area, and more to the child; physically, mentally, emotionally, and magically.

Minerva snarled and grabbed her letter to Augusta, she would make sure her friend knew of this. She saw Moody out of the corner of her eye- adding to his own parchment.

Severus was quiet. All this time, and Neville himself was abused by his relatives? No wonder the boy was so terrified over the years. Especially of him. If he remembered quietly, he looked a bit like what a younger Algie would.

 **(but nothing happened until I was eight.)**

Minerva's quill snapped and she stared at the parchment in her horror. His uncle almost drowned a boy who wasn't even eight years old? A boy she had helped baby-sit regularly until the same boys parents were attacked and his grandmother pulled him away from the world?

At the moment, she couldn't believe that she had almost married Algie at one point.

Neville eyed his professor in worry.

 **(Great Uncle Algie... accidentally let go.)**

Minerva grabbed a new quill, charmed it so it wouldn't just break again, and went back to furiously writing.

 **(But I bounced-... She was so happy.)**

"Those had better have been tears of joy that you were alright, before she lit into Algie about it when you weren't around to see." Minerva growled as she continued writing.

 **(And you should have... to come, you see.)**

Severus and Pomfrey both frowned. That sounded a lot like a case of Core Suppression, to them. Which could happen sometimes if the child in question grew up thinking he wasn't good enough and never could be. They would subconsciously lock some of their own magic away, which would make it harder to use, which would then only fuel that way of thinking even more. It was a vicious cycle.

It was also dangerous for the child. Especially since Core Suppression was most common in children that were verbally abused and/or constantly being expected to do more than was realistic. Sometimes, with the right friends and support system behind them, the child would come out of it and begin using their magic more freely, or if they had a goal in mind and would not stop until it was reached.

 **(Great Uncle Algie was...** **talking about lessons)**

"Of course they were." Draco muttered. It was a wonder the two of them weren't in Ravenclaw.

 **(("I _do_ hope they... that sort of thing-").)**

"Just remember, you are also there to make friends and enjoy yourself." Sprout reminded _Hermione_. The girl smiled sheepishly and nodded.

 **(Harry, who was... and sallow skin.)**

"Grease from potion fumes, and sallow skin from spending most of my time in the lab." Severus said with a shrug. "Normally I would have washed my hair out, but I didn't have time before the feast for a shower."

"But, its greasy all the time." Ron pointed out.

"I'm brewing all the time."

 **(It happened very suddenly... on Harry's forehead.)**

Dumbledore looked concerned. That meant... that Voldemort was there. In the school. Near his students. He would have to keep a close eye on things.

It also meant he was right.

He sat back, satisfied that things appeared to be going perfectly as planned.

Sirius looked at Bill and Severus, worried. This was further proof that they were right about the Horcrux in Harry's scar. Bill nodded, while Severus started running through spells he knew that would detect something like that.

"As much as I love having something that warns me when he gets close, I really wish it didn't hurt so much." Harry muttered.

 **("Ouch!" Harry clapped a...** **asked Percy.**

 **"N-nothing.")**

Hermione huffed. "Honestly, you would claim it was nothing if you were lying there bleeding out." She grumbled.

 **(The pain had gone... like Harry at all.)**

"Yeah, well, I had an image in my head of what you would be like. It didn't help that you looked so much like him." Severus muttered. What he didn't say was how much he had hated looking up and seeing those eyes with that face.

 **("Who's that teacher...** **Dark Arts, Snape.")**

"That's not a bad thing, lad." Moody said.

Severus nodded in reluctant agreement. "You have to know something, to be able to defend yourself against it. Of course, that's not why I learned it, but... anyway. Why shouldn't I want the Defense position? Especially after watching all those Dunderheaded idiots coming through that classroom, hardly any of them had any clue what they were doing, and as a former Death Eater, I was well aware that the Dark Lord was not gone permanently, and the students would hardly be able to fight back and defend themselves with Dunderheaded teachers." He ranted a bit, with a sour look on his face.

 **(Harry watched Snape...** **of the Weasley twins.)**

"There's a lot of good Potions ingredients in there." Fred said.

"How else were we supposed to experiment if we didn't have ingredients?"

"We couldn't take them from the students stores..."

"... not without people asking questions."

"And we couldn't afford them, either."

"Although, it was fun collecting unicorn tail hairs."

"Useful stuff, that is. Sells good, too." The Twins informed the room. Severus looked at them, his expression hardly changed, but those who knew him best could see his wide eyes and shocked expression. He either hadn't thought of collecting ingredients from the forest, or he wasn't expecting that to be the reason why the Weasley Twins went in the forest.

"What were you thinking, traipsing around the Forest for ingredients? Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?" Molly demanded, she couldn't believe they could be so reckless.

"Actually, it's quite safe, if you know the areas to avoid and don't go too deep." Harry said with a shrug.

"And stay out of it on certain nights." Fred added.

"Yeah, turns out Werewolves aren't the only things..."

"... that can be affected negatively by certain phases of the moon."

"Although, Werewolves are the only things that can be affected by the full moon. And, they are right, Molly. The only reason the forest is so dangerous is because of the creatures, but if you stay in the least populated areas, there's no problem." Sirius said.

"And, I myself go in there often for ingredients. There are many plants in the forest that can be used by the students, and some that I need for my experiments. And, as a teacher, I can go deeper in than the students with less worry." Severus added once he got over his shock of the Weasley's gathering their own ingredients for their prank potions over the years. Now, he knew, along with all the other teachers, that the two were smarter than their grades showed, but... he should add this in his letter. His younger self might do good letting them assist once in a while. It would also be a good idea so that he could make an attempt at keeping an eye on the boys.

 **("I have also been...** **contact Madam Hooch.)**

"Or pull off a really dumb move in front of McGonagall when it was only your first time seeing a broom, let alone flying it." Neville said with a small smirk. He had heard the story, and it sounded awesome.

Draco grimaced. He wished he never stole Longbottom's Remembrall. Potter on a broom was deadly to the other teams. They would have easily won the the cup first and second year if it weren't for outside circumstances.

Sirius was looking at Harry, with an odd combination of suspicion in his eyes and pride. He was almost afraid to ask what Harry's dumb move was.

 **("And finally, I must... very painful death.")**

"You know, I know you had a trap set, but... announcing it to the student body like that, telling a bunch of teenagers, that there was something dangerous there... and then telling them they weren't allowed to go there... that was the stupidest thing you could ever do. Especially since all it took to open the door was a simple Alohomora. Your really lucky Professor Snape was the only one injured by Fluffy and nobody got killed trying to see what was so dangerous." Harry said, not looking at Dumbledore. He was kind of mad that the professor had set him up like this.

"No doubt, telling a bunch of teenagers not to go somewhere because its dangerous is just the same as telling them to go ahead and check it out." Sirius said in disbelief.

Fred and George nodded. "We went to go check it out the first night we were there." They said, and ignored their mother's stern glare.

"And I guarantee that they weren't the only ones, either. Especially if it was so easy to get in. You could have at least put up an age-line and made the door harder to unlock in the first place. Or, even better, lock the door, and don't tell the students about it!" Remus murmured. He had been told about Fluffy, but never got any details on what happened that they met the dog.

Dumbledore frowned. He would have thought that the students would listen when he told them it was deadly. Sure, not all of them listened when told to stay out of the forest, but like the boys said: if you know where to avoid and what you were doing, the forest was perfectly safe.

Sirius was just concerned and wanted to know what was up with the corridor.

 **(Harry laughed, but he was one of the few who did.)**

"I thought he was joking." Harry muttered.

 **("He's not serious?")**

Remus reached out and covered Sirius mouth before he could say it. That joke did get very old after a while. (More like about a week after he started saying it.)

 **(he muttered to Percy... to go somewhere-)**

"Which only further guaranteed that students would want to check it out." Sirius muttered.

 **(the forest's full... prefects at least.")**

"Why weren't the prefects notified? We could have helped with patrols and made double sure the other students weren't going where they shouldn't have been." Percy asked McGonagall.

She shrugged. "Albus said he would take care of it. I assumed that meant he told the prefects." She said.

 **("And now, before... became rather fixed.)**

"For good reason." All the Heads of House muttered. They hated it when Dumbledore had the students sing it. It was such a mess of sound, especially since he let them pick their own tune and tempo to sing it to.

 **(Dumbledore gave his wand... "and off we go!")**

Before the book could go any further, Severus flicked his wand and Silenced everyone not a current or former teacher who also did not attend or know the song. He did NOT want to listen to anybody here singing along. It was bad enough the charm on the book was probably going to replay it as it was sung in the Hall that night.

 **(And the school bellowed:**

 _ **"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,**_

 _ **Teach us something please,**_

 _ **Whether we be old and bald**_

 _ **Or young with scabby knees,**_

 _ **Our heads could do with filling**_

 _ **With some interesting stuff,**_

 _ **For now they're bare and full of air,**_

 _ **Dead flies and bits of fluff,**_

 _ **So teach us things worth knowing,**_

 _ **Bring back what we've forgot,**_

 _ **Just do your best, we'll do the rest,**_

 _ **And learn until our brains all rot."**_

The teachers, except for Dumbledore all groaned when the book did indeed sing the song exactly as it was sung then.

Dudley was slightly confused. "I could barely understand any of that."

"I'll write it down for you later. Right now, you should just know that it's not a good idea to sing it around the professor's." Harry said, making Severus look at him in shock. He could have sworn he Silenced them all.

 **(Everybody finished the... slow funeral march.)**

Said twins looked oddly pleased with themselves right then. Especially when Harry spoke up, "They were actually pretty good, too."

Now that the song was over, Severus felt it was safe to remove the Silencing charms. Although he noticed that Harry, Sirius, and Remus had all removed it themselves, and just stayed quiet. Surprisingly.

 **(Dumbledore conducted their...** **bedtime. Off you trot!")**

"We aren't horses." The Trio and a few others grumbled. Dumbledore just looked at them with his eyes twinkling away.

 **(The Gryffindor first... the marble staircase.)**

The only non-Gryffindor's in the room that didn't sit up in interest were the teachers and Luna. Everyone was interested in where the Gryffindor common room was. The other three houses, it was known generally where they were, and they knew Gryffindor was in a tower, but they had no idea where. Whenever anybody looked, they never found anything. They entrance was well hidden.

 **(Harry's legs were like...** **and hanging tapestries.)**

Draco was confused. The way to the Gryffindor's territory seemed very... twisted. They were kind of going everywhere here.

 **(They climbed more...** **throwing themselves at him.)**

"Peeves." Nearly everybody said.

 **("Peeves," Percy whispered...** **the Bloody Baron?")**

"Aw, come on, Perce, don't be like that." Ron said with a smirk.

 **(There was a pop,..** **. They all ducked.)**

"Smart choice." Several people said.

"Where are all the other kids in Gryffindor? Its just you guys and Percy. For that matter, where is the other prefect?" Draco said.

"The other kids took the shortcuts to get to the common room, while Percy took us on the actual route. And I don't know about the other prefect...?" Harry said, looking at Percy.

"She was sick on the train, so she went straight to the Hospital Wing after getting to the castle." Percy said. "Good thing too, she was in there for almost a week."

 **("Go away, Peeves, or the Baron'll hear about this, I mean it!" barked Percy.)**

"Oh, don't do that." Fred winced.

"Yeah, he'll never let it go, and only make you miserable." Sirius agreed.

"Besides, its just rude to pull the Baron card so early like that." Harry said.

People blinked, did they just break up the Twin speak before it began? Fred and George were looking at Sirius and Harry, shocked. Nobody had ever interrupted them like that before. Sirius and Harry smirked.

 **(Peeves stuck out... on Neville's head.)**

Neville sighed. "It's always me." He grumbled.

"Don't worry, Neville, it was always me, too." Remus said with a grimace.

"Really? I would have thought you would safe, being a Marauder and all." Harry said in surprise.

"Nah, he liked James and Sirius, didn't consider Pettigrew worth his time, and made me a frequent target."

"Pettigrew was pretty pathetic, wasn't he? He had his uses, and he was our friend, but he was kind of pathetic." Sirius said.

 **(They heard him... as he passed.)**

"Wow, you must have really annoyed him." Sirius said in surprise. A few of the others nodded in agreement.

 **("You want to watch... Here we are.")**

"And I've never been able to figure out why he only listens to the Baron." Severus said, he was annoyed by that fact. Whenever he asked the Baron about it, all he got was this smirk that drove him insane, and then the Baron would leave.

 **(At the very end... pink silk dress.)**

"I don't remember ever seeing a portrait like that." Draco said in surprise.

"You'd be surprised the things we have in our territory that you didn't know was there." Harry said with a faint smirk.

"The only way you can find our portrait is if a Gryffindor leads you there. We don't know if its part of the castle's magic, something Godric Gryffindor set up, or what. And his portraits not telling, so..." Remus said with a shrug.

"Wait, you've seen his portrait?!" Severus asked in shock.

All the Lions just smirked. "Oh, I'm sure you'll find Slytherin's if you look in the right places." Minerva said cryptically.

 **("Password?" she said...** **squashy armchairs.)**

"Sounds like a good place to hang out in." Dudley muttered.

 **(Percy directed the girls... and fell into bed.)**

"What if there were more than five students? Is the room big enough for that?" Dudley asked curiously.

"We have other rooms they could use, and the rooms themselves can also expand as needed." Harry shrugged.

"Huh."

 **("Great food, isn't it?"... chewing my sheets.")**

"Ok, that's just wrong." Sirius muttered.

"What is it with him and sheets?" Remus wondered.

 **(Harry was going...** **a bit too much,)**

"It's a good thing we lace the food at feasts with stomach soothers... it would be bad for some of the students to lose their dinner so late at night, after such a long day traveling." Pomfrey muttered.

 **(because he had a very strange dream.)**

"I don't remember dreaming that night." Harry said, confused.

 **(He was wearing Professor... sweating and shaking.)**

Sirius grabbed his boys, pulled them back up off the floor (they never got up after planning dinner), and put them in a really tight hug. He still couldn't believe his godson remembered that night. But then, he supposed that his boy had always been very smart for his age.

"Harry, you have the strangest dreams." Ron said, with a weird look on his face. Harry just shrugged as well as he could while still being trapped by Sirius.

 **(He rolled over... the dream at all.)**

"Oh, that explains it. Yeah, that's probably going to happen a lot." Harry muttered.

"Next chapter? We can eat after this one?" Molly suggested to the room, when everyone nodded, the book kept going. **Chapter eight: the Potions Master.**

"Oh, this can't be good." Sirius and Remus both muttered. Sirius was looking at Severus suspiciously, and at the same time wondered just how much he was going to regret all those pranks.

* * *

I always found it odd that you have a guy like Gryffindor, who obviously would have been fit if he had any chance of using his sword properly, not to mention the time period they were in where everyone and their grandmothers knew how to fight with a sword, would have nowhere for his students to work out and such. Besides, Slytherin has the dungeons, and the Chamber of Secrets, why can't Gryffindor have their own place too?


	10. the Potions Master

_**(He rolled over... the dream at all.)**_

 _"Oh, that explains it. Yeah, that's probably going to happen a lot." Harry muttered._

 _"Next chapter? We can eat after this one?" Molly suggested to the room, when everyone nodded, the book kept going._ _ **Chapter eight: the Potions Master.**_

 _"Oh, this can't be good." Sirius and Remus both muttered. Sirius was looking at Severus suspiciously, and at the same time wondered just how much he was going to regret all those pranks._

Severus sank back into his seat slightly. He was eyeing the Marauders, wondering how much he was going to pay for Harry's treatment at his hands.

 **("There, look."**

 **"Where?")**

A few people had confused frowns on their faces at the way the chapter was starting out. This was odd.

 **("Next to the tall kid with the red hair.")**

Understanding was starting to dawn on a few faces. This must be what Harry was hearing in the hallways.

 **("Wearing the glasses?"...**

 **"Did you see his scar?")**

Those who hadn't already figured it out, now knew what was going on. They were hearing about the whispers from the other students, all of them trying to get a glimpse of Harry Potter.

 _Harry_ made a face. "Don't they have anything better to do with their time?" He grumbled.

Harry snorted. "I've been asking that for years."

 **(Whispers followed Harry... dormitory the next day.)**

"Do any of you have any idea how annoying it is?" Harry whined. It was very annoying! Even if he got good at ignoring it over the years, it didn't get any less annoying. At least they got used to his presence as the year went on, although there was always something happening during the year that made them whisper about him all over again, and then, of course, the whole thing started all over again with the next batch of first years.

 _Harry_ looked repulsed, while Ron and Hermione nodded in agreement. The whispering did get very annoying after a while, and they only really caught the edge of it by virtue of being his friends. They weren't the center of attention like he was.

 **(People lining up outside... corridors again, staring.)**

 _Harry_ looked disgusted. "Shouldn't they be focusing on their first class of the year? Honestly," and he started grumbling about people who had nothing better to do with their lives than to invade a kids privacy. Harry snorted, but he didn't say anything.

 **(Harry wished they... his way to his classes.)**

The teachers frowned. So that was why Harry and Ron were later than first years usually were. They were being distracted by the older years...

 **(There were a hundred... staircases at Hogwarts:)**

Everybody blinked and slowly turned to Harry, who had gotten his sketchbook back out and was now drawing a Grim, a stag, and a Wolf standing proudly around a Lily under the light of a full moon. Since the drawing he did earlier was done, a picture of Hedwig in full flight with a Grim and a Wolf running underneath her. Hedwig had looked at it and hooted in approval.

"Harry, how on earth did you know that? It's not even in _Hogwarts, A History_." She said.

Harry glanced up at her quickly before he went back to his drawing, "I asked Nick." He said simply.

"Oh." A few people blinked. They never really thought about asking the ghosts about stuff. Sure, they asked for directions from the ghosts and portraits if they needed to, but otherwise they never really thought of them. Harry seemed to talk to them all the time.

Harry looked up at Sirius suddenly. "Did mom have an animagus form?" He asked.

Sirius and Remus frowned and shook their heads, "Not that we know of." Sirius said, before looking at Severus, but he shook his head.

"We looked into it in our fourth year, but in the end decided to wait until our seventh year before doing the transformation." Severus said, "But, of course, everything fell apart in our fifth year, so... it never happened." Harry frowned, sad about it, but he nodded and went back to his drawing. He had been going to draw her animagus form, or at least the animal that she was.

 **(wide, sweeping ones... to remember to jump.)**

"Let me guess, Nick again?"

"No, actually," Harry muttered absently as he drew the Grim's eyes. "I asked an older Gryffindor. Nick was busy in a ghost meeting, they were discussing what to do with Peeves after he flooded the seventh floor." He said.

"That was Peeves?" Ron muttered.

"How did he flood the seventh floor? There's no bathroom up there." Hermione muttered.

"With Peeves,"

"Who knows?" The Twins asked with a shrug.

The Dudley's were looking at the wizards like they had two heads. For one thing, that place sounded amazing and strange, for another, how on earth did they find where they were going or get there on time? Not to mention remember all that?

 **(Then there were doors... walls just pretending.)**

"Why on earth would anyone have any of that in the castle?" Dudley asked, incredulous.

"Hmm, well..." Harry said slowly while he ordered his thoughts. "The Baron said that, when they built the castle, it was built as both a sanctuary; since back then the witch hunts were going on, there was a problem with a nearby band of trolls, he said something about several wars and problems with the goblins too, as well as a school. He told me that the doors and stairs were built the way they were as a security measure in case the castle was ever invaded. I guess behind the solid walls pretending to be doors, are actually safe rooms that will only open if the alarm is triggered, and once that alarm is triggered, the castle's non-fighting occupants only have ten minutes to get into a safe room before the rooms seal themselves again until the fighting was over. In the event of the invaders succeeding and the castle being taken over, then the doors would unseal and the stairs would lead the people on a path away from the invaders, out of the castle." Everyone stared at him and a few people blinked.

Finally, Dumbledore spoke. "I did not know any of that." He said, shocked. He got a roll of parchment and started making his own notes on what to do when the reading was done. At the top of the list was asking the ghosts and portraits about safety measures for the students, or any other information about the castle that might have been lost to time. He was ashamed to say that he himself never thought about ever asking the ghosts or portraits if they knew anything he should know.

 **(It was also very... move around a lot.)**

"That's also part of the security measures, the thinking was that only those who were supposed to be there would know their way around, while invaders would get lost easily, leaving them easy pickings for the defenders to hunt down." Harry said while he focused on drawing the Grim's head around the eyes.

 **(The people in the... of armor could walk.)**

"They can. I am assuming that's another part of the castle's security?" Albus asked.

Harry nodded. "The Baron said that they are enchanted to become both the sword and shield of the castle. In the event of an attack, they will either station themselves outside the safe rooms or go out to meet the attackers, it depends on what they are ordered to do by the Headmaster."

Dudley looked slightly alarmed. "You keep talking as if the castle is constantly being attacked." He said.

Now it was Hermione's turn to shrug. "Well, if you consider the time period in which the castle was built, it probably was constantly being attacked. From one side, you had Muggles hunting and persecuting wizards and witches, on the other side, you had other magicals trying to claim the castle for themselves, either Dark Lords and Ladies trying to just take over period, trolls just attacking anything and everything, Harry said the Baron mentioned the goblins causing trouble... there were probably giants and dragons attacking, even." She said thoughtfully.

"Exactly." Harry said with a nod in Hermione's direction. "And, it wasn't just a school back then, either. Remember? It was also a safe haven for anyone who needed it. Whether they were attacked and driven out of their homes by Muggles, or Muggleborns driven out of their families because they were magical and their families, like most Muggles back then, didn't understand that and tried to 'get rid of the evil'. If they had nowhere else to go, Hogwarts was open to them. Of course, as witches and wizards got better at hiding from Muggles, and as society developed more over the centuries, the need for it to be a safe haven disappeared and it became just a school, but..." Harry shrugged and went back to his drawing.

"How on earth do you know all this?" Percy asked, incredulous.

Harry sighed and looked up again. "I told you, I talked to the Baron. Well, I also talked to Godric, but the Baron has been out and about the castle the most, so he's seen more of the changes over the years. I don't think Godric leaves the Maze much..." He shrugged again and went back to his drawing, again. He had also tried asking about the infamous rivalry between Godric and Salazar Slytherin, to ask him what really happened, and how much the history books had skewed over the years, but Godric refused to talk about it. So, whatever happened, Godric was clearly either still angry about, or in pain over it centuries later.

Albus frowned. He never thought to speak with Godric about any of this, either. He should probably pay more attention to the portraits and ghosts beyond them letting him know when there was a problem with the students, or helping him keep an eye on trouble students, (mostly students who were on probation, or students Madam Pomfrey put a notice to keep an eye on for health reasons). He made a note down to also speak with Godric about the ward scheme. Find out what the extent of the wards was supposed to be, and how much they deteriorated over the years as knowledge of them faded. Maybe young William Weasley could help with that. He studied wards and curses for a living, after all.

 **(The ghosts didn't help... you were trying to open.)**

"Especially when you don't get out of the way fast enough and they end up going through you." Ron muttered. He always had a problem with that, where Harry never did, Ron blamed Seeker reflexives.

"Why, what does it feel like?" _Dudley_ asked, curiously.

"Like your being dumped with a bucket of ice water, while standing outside in the snow." Harry said. The Dudley's eyebrows went up, that sounded... cold. Then he frowned, didn't his mother do that once...?

Hermione narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "Why does it sound like you have personal experience with that?" She asked suspiciously.

Neither Harry answered, they pointed at their respective Aunt and Uncle. Moody was scribbling away again on his parchment, Molly and Poppy were practically shaking in suppressed rage while resisting the urge to go over and smother Harry in warm blankets, while Sirius gave into his urge to smother the boys in their warm blankets, careful that it wasn't too tight so they could still breathe, and draw, and drew them into his arms again, trying to rein in his urge to kill the Dursley's and make use of every bit of the Dark Arts taught to him by his family growing up.

He didn't want to scare _Harry_ , after all. Wow, having to take care of _Harry_ these past couple of days was teaching him restraint fast.

 **(Nearly Headless Nick... were late for class.)**

A few people winced. Yeah, you did not want to ever run into Peeves when you were late. Depending on where you were in the castle, it could be humiliating and everyone would know really quick that you were late. If you ran into him in a deserted part of the castle, then it wasn't that bad, run into him outside the classrooms though...

Of course, it didn't help any that you would be so busy trying to get away from him safely that you usually ended up even more late than you already were. Luckily, most of the time, all you had to do was keep your ruffled appearance, and tell the teachers you ran into Peeves, they usually let you off. As long as you can prove that you really ran into him and weren't in a broom closet somewhere.

 **(He would drop wastepaper...** **worse than Peeves,)**

"Is that even possible?" Severus and Remus both asked. Nobody dared comment or laugh at the fact that they were copying each other now.

Especially when Severus glared around the room after he and Remus looked at each other in surprise.

 **(if that was possible, was the caretaker, Argus Filch.)**

"Oh, yup. Those two are tied when it comes to being awful." Remus said.

"I will never understand why he is there, he is absolutely horrible to the students." Hermione said, shaking her head.

"We have asked the Headmaster many times over the years to find someone else, but he refuses to consider getting anyone else. He says that 'students will often exaggerate to get out of punishment'." Minerva said.

Remus's eyes widened. "I can assure you, Headmaster, if anything, the students have downplayed his nastiness over the years." He said, slightly alarmed by the fact the Headmaster was blinding himself to the truth of what was going on. Dumbledore frowned, but didn't say anything, he would see what the books held before passing judgement on Argus.

 **(Harry and Ron managed... very first morning.)**

"What?!" Both Remus and Sirius yelped in shock.

"But it took us two weeks before we got in trouble with him!" Sirius exclaimed, he was both put out and proud that Harry had beat his and James record, and so quickly, too.

Harry sighed dramatically, "Sadly, I wasn't even doing anything the first time, we were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Besides, how were we to know where we were, we were first years, it was the first day of school, it's not like we knew where to go." He complained. Sirius frowned, he kind of wished Harry had gotten in trouble for something he actually did, not because the Prefects didn't do their jobs. Not that he wanted Harry to be getting in trouble.

Remus tilted his head and looked towards Percy. "Isn't it the seventh year prefects job to make sure the firsties know where to go?" He asked.

Percy frowned. "Yeah, I have no idea why they didn't, I thought they had, or I would have done it myself, but I was making sure the third years knew where to go for their new electives." He said.

Neville spoke up, "I caught them in a broom closet when I was trying to find my way to the Great Hall for breakfast." All the teachers turned to him with wide eyes. McGonagall herself was almost gaping, when she snapped out of it, she pulled her parchment towards herself and started writing furiously and muttering to herself about making sure those two missed the prefect badge this year, or at least were watched more closely.

Percy himself started writing, presumably to his own younger self to ensure that he kept an eye on the seventh year prefects and made double sure the first years were taken care of.

 **(Filch found them... on the third floor.)**

Dumbledore frowned. He hadn't thought of students getting lost and ending up there.

Sirius and Remus winced. "He's never going to believe them that they were lost." They muttered. Ron and Harry scowled. No, he didn't.

Then Harry thought of something, and he looked at Ron, snapping his fingers to get his attention. " _Didn't we get bailed out of that by Quirrell?"_ He signed.

Ron's eyes widened. " _Yeah, you don't reckon he was already trying to get the Stone, do you?"_

Hermione snapped her fingers, and when the boys attention was on her, she signed, _"It's possible, but thankfully we will never know because you both were there."_ She said with a raised eyebrow. They frowned, but nodded in agreement. When they turned back to the books, they found all the adults watching them suspiciously, obviously wondering what the Trio had figured out now, with Severus being the only one who had been able to follow their conversation.

He was frowning thoughtfully. The Headmaster had never told anyone what happened to Quirrell, not even him. Oh, he had his suspicions that Quirrell had been working with the Dark Lord, but he never had it confirmed. And then, the Dark Lord came back and, when Severus had finally returned to his side, he had been furious over Severus stopping Quirrell from getting the Stone, thus delaying his return. Severus had barely gotten out of there alive by explaining that if Severus had known Quirrell wanted it for the Dark Lord, then he would have helped. Now, it sounded like he was going to find out just how much the Dark Lord knew of that year. (What he didn't know yet was just how lucky he was that he'd been able to convince the Dark Lord of his loyalties. Because the Dark Lord had been planning his painful death after what he witnessed that school year.)

 **(He wouldn't believe they were lost,)**

"Honestly, we were first years, how could we not be lost?" Harry muttered. Ron nodded in agreement.

Minerva frowned, "If the prefects had been doing their jobs, then you wouldn't have been lost." She muttered.

 **(was sure they were... Quirrell, who was passing.)**

The Trio narrowed their eyes. He was definitely checking the place out. Moody was watching their reactions to Quirrell and he didn't like the conclusions he was coming up with.

 **(Filch owned a cat called Mrs. Norris,)**

"You're mother gave him that cat." Severus said. "She was the only one who Argus seemed to ever get along with." He said fondly.

"Really?" Harry asked, jerking his head up from his drawing. Severus nodded, but then frowned thoughtfully when Harry slowly went back to his drawing. He flipped a page and lightly, so he could erase it easier, jotted down an idea to draw later, which would be Mrs. Norris twining around a Lily with Hogwarts in the background. Then he went back to the one he was currently working on.

 **(a scrawny, dust-colored... school better than anyone)**

"Except, of course, me." Harry piped in.

"And us." The Twins added.

"I'm pretty sure the Marauder's came first, boys." Sirius said with a mischievious glint to his eyes, one copied by Remus.

Harry looked up, "Although, judging from the Map, I've discovered more of the school than you two and my dad ever did." He said with the same glint in his eye.

Sirius looked at him, shocked. "You have our Map?" He asked. He would have thought it would have been burned years ago after the Rat lost it to Filch in the beginning of their seventh year.

"We nicked it from Filch's office in our first year." Fred said, answering for Harry.

"It was in a cabinet marked, 'Extremely Dangerous'." George added on.

"Although, now that I think about it," Fred said thoughtfully, turning to his twin. "Didn't Filch also have the Marauder's written under that?" He asked.

"Yes, I believe he did." George said with a thoughtful frown.

Sirius and Remus were wide-eyed. "He kept our stuff?" Sirius whispered to Remus incredulously.

"I guess so." Remus said, trying to process. Why on earth would Filch have kept all the stuff he confiscated off them over the years? And marking it 'extremely dangerous', it was almost like the old Squib _wanted_ students to get ahold of their stuff and continue their legacy.

 **((except perhaps the... Mrs. Norris a good kick.)**

"Not me, though." Harry said with a frown. "I've always liked cats. Even if all of yours can get to be a bit much." He said to Mrs. Figg. She smiled and waved it off.

Severus frowned too, he may not like cats much, but he did like Mrs. Norris, if only because she'd been a gift from Lily. She would often come visit him in his dungeons, and students he caught messing with the cat came to very much regret their existence.

 **(And then, once you had... few funny words.)**

"Of course there is." Draco said, confused. Neville and his younger self were confused too, what did just waving a stick and funny words have to do with anything? Of course there was more to it.

"Most of how the Muggles think of magic comes from back during the witch hunts, back when Muggles knew magic existed, before we went into hiding." Hermione started. "So, much of what they know has become distorted by history, folklore, and the belief that magic isn't real. Where we know that all our spells are derived mostly from Latin, at least in Britain, they have ended up twisting them slightly. For instance, when pretending to do magic, a magician would most commonly use the words, 'abra kedabra'. Which, we would know to actually be a mispronunciation of the Killing Curse. That was probably a commonly used spell back then for some reason or other."

Severus nodded, "The Killing Curse was originally created to quickly and painlessly slaughter animals for food, or by a Healer to put a suffering patient out of their misery if there was nothing they could do for them. Sometime in the last century or so, the Ministry decided to make it Unforgivable to cast under any circumstances. Well, unless of course you're an Auror and somebody like Crouch is in charge." He said, glancing at Moody before he turned his attention back to the others. "So, yes, Muggles back then would have seen it used frequently by wizards who kept their own animals."

Draco nodded thoughtfully, "So, Muggles back then would have seen us waving our wands, and saying, what sounded like to those who can't speak Latin, funny words. And then passed that knowledge onto their children as bedtime stories. And they wouldn't know the theory or effort that goes into actually using magic."

"But, the actual pronunciation of those 'funny words', has become distorted with time." Harry said with a nod. "Just like their view on what magic is actually capable of."

"Wait, I thought Muggles weren't supposed to know about magic." _Draco_ said, confused.

"Well, they all know about magic. The point is, they don't think its _real._ " Arthur said. "They think its a bunch of bedtime stories from a time when people tried to explain what at the time was unexplainable, and came up with wild theories. Which is what the Statute of Secrecy is primarily about, making sure they _keep_ believing it to be just bedtime stories." The Draco's and Neville all frowned, but nodded.

 **(They had to study... movements of the planets.)**

Dudley blinked, confused. "What does that have to do with magic?" He asked.

"Some potions ingredients are best when picked at a certain stage of the lunar cycle, some are best picked when certain stars are in certain positions. Of course, it's not necessarily the stars themselves, its more the time of year and length of time between those positions. Some animals and creatures are also affected either negatively or positively by the lunar cycle. The Full Moon has its own... magic, I suppose. The moon and stars are also often used in Divination. Now, the subject itself is next to useless, you either have the Gift or you don't, but... some of the concepts of Divination are very accurate. The Centaurs, in particular, can get a fairly accurate idea of what is to come from watching the night sky." Severus explained, going into lecture mode.

"Some rituals, too, can only be done by the light of a certain moon. Rituals done by the New Moon are the most powerful, as the New Moon symbolizes a fresh start, starting something new. That is why weddings and bonding ceremonies are most often held on nights of the New Moon, or as close to it as the couple can get." Filius added. "And children born on the New Moon also tend to be slightly more powerful than their peers."

"Astronomy is very important to our world. The position of the moon can affect so much, and so many plants and animals thrive on it being in a certain location. So, we study it." Minerva said.

Then Pomona frowned. "We should really figure out some way of having it during the day though, that way the students are more awake during it." The other teachers agreed. They couldn't learn anything if they were half asleep, after all.

Hermione frowned, "Maybe we could adapt a Muggle observatory, make it work with magic..." She said thoughtfully, Harry bit his lip, but nodded. It sounded like a good idea, if they could make it work. It was very difficult, after all, to have Astronomy lessons when it was stormy, or during the winter.

 **(Three times a week... called Professor Sprout,)**

"Dumpy?" Pomona muttered with a frown. Everyone ignored the Petunia's snort of derision.

"It could be worse." Minerva said, patting her on the arm while everyone else snickered behind their hands. Her frown deepened, but she didn't say anything.

 **(where they learned...** **was History of Magic,)**

Everyone who ever sat a class with Professor Binns groaned.

Dumbledore frowned, "I myself found him a fascinating teacher when I had him." He said, and everyone always passed their exams with him.

"That was when he was still alive, probably." Harry snorted. "All that class is is nap-time."

Dumbledore frowned again, "If its nap-time, then why do students pass their exams?" He challenged.

Harry shrugged. "Self-study or tutoring over breaks, if you have the money for it. I don't know about the other houses, but the Lions have a room in the Maze set aside just for History. It's full of history books left behind by graduated students, and copies of past OWL and NEWT exams without the answers so we have an idea what to study for them. Otherwise, all he does is drone on about goblin wars and rebellions while the rest of us sleep." He said. The other teachers nodded. They had been telling the Headmaster for years that Binns was no good, and he would be better off finding a teacher who was still alive. He wouldn't listen, he said that Binns was a good teacher, and the students were passing their exams just fine with him.

Dumbledore frowned. Was he really this disconnected from his school that he hadn't even known about this?

 **(which was the only... down names and dates,)**

"Most of the time we're in a daze, we usually only barely wake up enough to hear that a name a date was said. Then, we look up what that name and date means later." Ron said. "Hermione is the only one who can stay awake, its insane." He said seriously. Hermione just shot him a dirty look, despite the somewhat compliment he gave her.

 **(and got Emeric the Evil and Uric the Oddball mixed up.)**

"Who are they?" Dudley asked, that was an odd name.

"Eh, one of them is a famous, if a little insane, inventor, and the other... wasn't he one of the worst kings the Goblin nation ever had?" Hermione said.

Draco nodded. "Yeah, Emeric invented a lot of stuff, some of it not good, and Uric was the king that almost destroyed the Goblin nation when he had them make too many tunnels in the mines under their main city and it collapsed. Luckily, they noticed the problem and got most of the women and children out before it did, along with most of the warriors to protect them. A lot of the miners that were in the city though... they were in the tunnels trying to brace it so it didn't collapse, and didn't quite get it done in time. It took them forever to go through the rubble and salvage what they could, then they had to fill in the tunnels and rebuild the city. And then, of course, all this was while trying to fend off a bunch of wizards who thought it was a good idea to try and steal what they could while they were weak and recovering." He said.

When he saw all the wide-eyed looks he was getting, he frowned before he realized why they were looking at him like that. "My History tutor was a taskmaster who liked the small details."

Dudley blinked. "Wait, I thought those two would be the other way around." He said.

"See, that's why we get them mixed up."

 **(Professor Flitwick, the... and toppled out of sight.)**

Filius flushed red. "I was excited to see how much talent he inherited from his mother. She was my best student, I had just accepted her on as an apprentice when she had to go into hiding and had to put gaining a Mastery on hold. James Potter, while Charms wasn't his best subject, was no slouch either." He explained. "It had nothing to do with your fame, I was just excited to finally get to teach you, it was also good to see you again after all those years." He explained to the Harry's. It didn't escape his notice that both Remus and Sirius were eyeing him oddly. Harry accepted his explanation, though, and sat back in his seat against his godfather's side, going back to his drawing.

 **(Professor McGonagall was... wasn't a teacher to cross.)**

"Again, that never seemed to stop you." She said, amused and annoyed in equal parts.

Harry grinned at her over the top of his sketchbook. "But, it's no fun otherwise." He said, with that mischievous glint in his eye. She narrowed her eyes at him, but decided to leave it be for now.

 **(Strict and clever, she...** **leave and not come back.)**

"You never kicked us out." The Twins, Sirius, and Remus all said together.

She narrowed her eyes at them. "None of you ever messed around in such a nature as to make me kick you out." She said sternly. "And thank goodness too, there have been students I have had to kick out of my class for immature and dangerous behavior, some of them are now in either in Azkaban, or a permanent spell-damage ward of St. Mungoes."

A few of the adults flinched, they had seen just how extensive the damage had to be for them to end up there, the younger people looked worried when they saw the looks on the adults faces.

"As wonderful as magic is, it can also be very dangerous when used irresponsibly." Dumbledore murmured. The other teachers all nodded. They had seen many times over the years when a student was being irresponsible or immature, the results were never pretty. Sometimes, they could get to them in time to reverse it with no ill-effects to the student, sometimes they had to be sent to St. Mungoes for a while. Sometimes, they came back from the hospital, sometimes they didn't.

Both Dudley's looked concerned, could magic really be that dangerous? It looked like such a great thing, nothing like his parents had always told Dudley... although Dudley supposed that he had seen cases where magic wasn't so good. The Dementors came to mind.

 **(You have been warned."...** **a pig and back again.)**

Dudley frowned and rubbed his backside. "What is it with you wizards and pigs?" He muttered. "First, your school is called HOGwarts, and then you keep turning things into pigs."

Hermione blinked at him. "You know, he does have a point. I mean, we have Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, and the Hogshead tavern, and we do tend to turn stuff into pigs a lot." She said to the other wizards in the room. Some of them looked around at the others and shrugged. Dudley just blinked at the fact that they had three different places with the 'hog' in the name.

"Never noticed." Fred and George both said.

 **(They were all very... animals for a long time.)**

"Indeed not, I only do that as an example of what could be accomplished, that way students don't get too disillusioned when we start with the small stuff." Minerva said, her lips twitching upwards.

Poppy nodded, "Yes, if you try too much too soon, you could rupture your core." She agreed, giving Hermione a piercing look. The girl blushed slightly and looked down.

 **(After taking a lot of complicated notes,)**

Minerva sighed, "They actually weren't that complicated, of you had grown up magical or gotten the introductory books, like you should have been told to do." She said with a glare at Dumbledore. "Still, considering that you were so far behind everyone else theory-wise, you did remarkably well, your theory work was average at worst, some concepts you just... got, while you struggled a bit with others... and all that without having the background that the introductory books give you." She said thoughtfully, either not noticing, or choosing to ignore the blush on Harry's cheeks as he focused on his drawing.

 **(they were each given... turn it into a needle.)**

"A match into a needle? How could that be used in life?" Dudley asked. He had been told by a teacher once, when he complained about how he would never use something, he forgot what that exact lesson had been on that day, and she told him that every lesson he learned from her could actually be applied to a real life situation in some way. Whether it be the way of thinking required to solve the problem, or learning how to think through a process to find a solution. But he just could not figure out how on earth turning matches into needles could transfer into real life. Well, unless they went on to become a seamstress or something and needed to be able to make needles whenever they needed, wherever they were.

Minerva smiled, happy to see the boy asking questions, even as his mother looked like she was sucking on a lemon as she stared at him and his father was turning different colors in his shock and anger. "Well, it sets up a foundation. That is some of the easiest Transfiguration you could ever do. And it does seem a little useless, but it gives the students a feel for how the magic flows, for how their magic feels when they use it to turn something into something else. Different branches of magic have different feelings to them, which is why some students could be Charms prodigies, able to do things with magic that would seem impossible when it comes to Charms. But, ask them to Transfigure something, and they struggle. Their magic is just more suited to Charms than it is Transfiguration. So, by starting off small and simple, it lets the students get a feel for how Transfiguration feels, then when they go to Charms they can hopefully feel the difference." She said.

Filius added, "I do something similar in my class."

Minerva nodded before she continued. "Also, it is the simplest piece of Transfiguration because it is a solid, inanimate object being turned into another. Eventually, they start turning living creatures, like beetles or mice, into inanimate objects, and then it only gets more complicated. But most of what we teach in the classroom is a foundation for how something feels, the theory is that if they master the foundation, they can do basically anything they need to."

Dudley nodded in understanding.

 **(By the end of the... difference to her match;)**

Minerva said, "And when you yourself came back the next lesson, you managed a complete Transfiguration on your second try, it even had small designs etched out around it. Mostly Lilies." She said with a small smile. Harry's face turned even more red as he seemed more determined than before to focus on his drawing.

"Really?" Sirius asked, interested. He leaned towards Minerva slightly without disturbing his boys who were still leaning against him while they drew. "I don't suppose you made his permanent and kept them?" He asked.

She smiled and held out her hand. With a flash of light that was becoming almost normal now, a small snuffbox appeared in her hand, it was beautiful. Pure white with gold trim, it had an engraved image on the top of the lid of Hogwarts; outlined in blue, yellow, green, and red. Along the sides, were engraved flowers in various shades of gold and bronze; roses, lilies, and daffodils. "This is what he made for one of his exams. I kept all of his other works in here too." She said as she opened the box, revealing the needle from the second lesson Harry ever had with her, along with a button that she had collected from her students as a sample to grade while they got to keep the rest, this particular button was black, with red flame-like patterns. There were a few other items as well; a crystal water goblet with silver inlays, a teapot with a phoenix and snowy owl soaring together along the sides of it, and many other items Transfigured by Harry over the years (some of them shrunk down to fit in the box).

All of them spelled by Minerva and Filius to be permanent, otherwise some of them might have gone back to being their original objects years ago.

"I keep all my students best works over the years and then give them back when they graduate." She told those that were still in school, or supposed to be (The Trio), while those who had her as their teacher nodded in agreement. She did indeed do that. She smiled slightly and leaned forward to give the snuffbox to Sirius, who took it almost reverently and started examining the items. Minerva was right, his work was at a higher quality than most.

Both Dudley's were staring in slight shock at what they were seeing. Their cousin had made all that? Some of that (the goblet) would be worth a pretty penny in the store. And he could just make stuff like that? Of course though, monetarily, stuff probably wasn't worth as much if it was magicked than if it was actually made, but, still.

 **(Professor McGonagall showed... out to be a bit of a joke.)**

Dumbledore frowned. Yet another Defense teacher who didn't actually teach. Of course, now that he suspected Quirrell to be on Tom's side, he had been just hoping that Quirrell wouldn't teach them anything inappropriate, but if his class was a joke then it sounded like he should be more worried about whether or not he was actually teaching them anything at all.

Minerva sighed, and muttered, "Thank goodness for the Maze and all its empty rooms." She had several rooms set aside, of course, the students themselves had several rooms set aside for various things (like the history room), but she herself had rooms set aside in addition to the exercise and training rooms just for Defense practice. Since they had such bad luck finding a competent Defense teacher, she had a tutoring schedule set up with the older, more Defense oriented Gryffindors, and each of her tutors had their own 'classroom' within the maze. And, naturally, even with several rooms reserved for these things, there was still plenty of other empty rooms for the students to do what they pleased. She knew the other Heads had their own tutoring schedule set up for Defense as well, their tutoring sessions just had to be in the library or empty classrooms around the castle, depending on what they could find that week.

If it weren't for her tutors, she didn't think anybody would be passing either History or Defense, ever.

It was such a shame, though, what happened to Quirrell. Whatever it was that happened to him, he was a good teacher back when he taught Muggle Studies. Then he went on his trip and came back a mess.

 **(His classroom smelled... one of these days.)**

"Despite what people seem to believe, garlic doesn't actually do anything to vampires, they merely avoid it because of its strong odor and their rather strong sense of smell." Severus said, amused.

Remus nodded. "I know that Werewolves tend to avoid garlic too for those same reasons." He didn't mention the fact that he himself was a Werewolf. He knew that most of the room knew, and he didn't want to panic the few kids who didn't know, this wasn't the time. They would have to pull them aside later and discuss that with _Ron_ , _Hermione_ , and _Draco_. He didn't think the Dudley's would pose much of a problem in that regard, judging by the looks of pure amazement on their faces.

"Vampires and Werewolves are real too?" Dudley asked.

All the wizards nodded while the Petunia's fainted in horror and the Vernon's, while horrified as well, had to put it aside to take care of his wife. A few wizards noticed this and grudgingly felt a measure of respect for the man. As foul as he was, especially towards magic in general and Harry, he did genuinely care for his family.

Poppy went over to make sure they were alright, but would let them be to wake up on their own if nothing was wrong. "Yes, I'm rather good friends with some of them, in fact, my Master is a vampire." Severus said, watching in amusement as Poppy tried to get close enough to the Petunia's to make sure they weren't having a shock-induced heart attack, and having to stun the Vernon's when they tried to attack her to keep her away from their respective wife.

"Cool." The Dudley's whispered. Everyone else looked in shock at Severus, they hadn't known that, not even Dumbledore. All they knew about when he got his Mastery was that he was the youngest to earn it in the recorded history of Potions Masteries. He never talked about his Master much, although they knew that he and his Master had gotten along rather well and Severus kept in contact with him.

And now they knew why he didn't talk about his Master much, aside from the fact that Severus was a very private man and didn't talk about himself much in general. Vampires were considered Dark Creatures and were shunned just as much as Werewolves were, if the Ministry knew his Master was a Vampire, they might try and take his Mastery away just because of that and ignore his obvious skill and the fact he'd held his Mastery for years now.

 **(His turban, he told... troublesome zombie,)**

If it was possible, the Dudley's eyes got even wider, although Dudley's eyes now held a touch of fear, but otherwise he was just amazed. Zombies were real too? Cool! Although they did wonder about what was true and what was fact that the Muggles twisted over the years like they had with spell pronunciation and what they knew of magic in general.

The Trio snorted, they all knew the turban was to hide Voldemort from view. They highly doubted he'd even been in Africa.

 **(but they weren't sure... about the weather,)**

Severus snorted. Ravenclaws had always been the closest to the Slytherin house, so it wasn't unusual to see a Raven being just as, if not more, cunning and sneaky as a Snake, and that was the most un-Slytherin like act he had ever seen from a Raven. He had seen Lions (the Trio) be more Slytherin-like than that.

 **(for another, they... around the turban,)**

The Trio looked at each other again, could the funny smell have been because Voldemort was there? Is it possible that his possession of Quirrell caused a negative reaction with Quirrell's body? After all, people's bodies weren't really meant to carry two.

Moody narrowed his eyes, there was a lot of mention of that turban, and the Trio had exchanged a lot of significant looks whenever it was mentioned as well. He made a note to keep an eye on Professor Quirrell when they got back. Of course, depending on what they learned in these books, he might not even bother keeping an eye, and just take action.

 **(and the Weasley twins... full of garlic as well,)**

" _It wouldn't surprise me if he used the garlic to cover up the rotting stench that probably clung to him from the possession_." Harry signed after getting Ron and Hermione's attention. They both nodded in agreement, thankful that Hagrid had never quite gotten the hang of sign language, he could understand and make simple signs, but he just never quite got it.

Harry huffed. _**"You are teaching me sign language later on."**_ He hissed. Harry looked at him before he shrugged and agreed.

Severus, watched their signed conversation with narrowed eyes. Possession? What were they talking about? The only person who would of, or could of, possess Quirrell, that he could think of anyway, was... oh. How on earth had Severus walked out of that first meeting with the Dark Lord after his return alive? If the Dark Lord was really possessing Quirrell that year... he had said some things to Quirrell that year, that would have certainly made the Dark Lord suspicious enough to think him a traitor, and rightly so, but then why did the Dark Lord not kill him? Why let him live?

He gulped slightly and started quickly adding to his letter, he had to warn his younger self to be careful around Quirrell until Mad-eye could take care of the man and the Dark Lord was gone for good.

 **(so that Quirrell was protected wherever he went.)**

"Well, they actually weren't entirely wrong, it just wasn't for protection." Harry muttered absently as he considered his drawing.

Severus frowned, so the Dark Lord was under that turban? Hmm... wait a minute. Didn't the Weasley Twins...? His eyes widened in slight horror as he turned to Minerva, "Didn't you give the Messers. Weasley detention for enchanting snowballs to target the back of that turban?" He asked stiffly. When she frowned and nodded, he looked at the Trio to see them staring at him in horror and amusement, they had forgotten all about that. Horror that the Twins had been pelting the Dark Lord with snowballs, and amusement that the _the Twins had been pelting the Dark Lord with snowballs._

"Why? What's wrong?" Minerva asked, Molly looked concerned.

Instead of answering her, he turned to the Twins, and said very seriously, "Never enchant objects to target another object unless you are completely 100% sure that the object is what it appears to be." The Twins were lucky that the Dark Lord hadn't ordered Quirrell to arrange an accident for the Twins, there were plenty of stairs in the castle, it wouldn't have been looked into too carefully if the wards around the edge of the railing were to fail from age and the boys were to... slip over. He then went back to his letter and wrote to keep an eye on the Twins too, make sure that, if by chance Quirrell was still around, (which he doubted would happen given what he now knew, but you could never be too careful) that the Twins stayed away from his turban.

He may not care for the Weasley's much, but they were still his students, he was still responsible for their safety. And he took his responsibilities very seriously.

 **(Harry was very... behind everyone else.)**

"Actually, considering your lack of background information and the introductory materials you should have gotten, you were miles behind everyone, you were just intelligent enough to figure things out on your own." Pomona said kindly. "It really is quite amazing." The other teachers nodded in agreement while Harry again hid behind his sketchpad, much to everyone's amusement. They all noticed that his younger self also happened to be doing the same.

"You were extremely disadvantaged and didn't even know it, but you pulled through with good grades anyway." Sirius murmured, unbelievably proud of his pup.

 **(Lots of people had... witches and wizards.)**

The teachers frowned. They never really thought about it before, by why did they wait so long? If they informed the parents of the Muggleborns sooner, introduced them sooner, then they would be able to get used to the idea faster, and their children would be a little more knowledgeable about the world they were now a part of. Minerva made a note on her parchment for her younger self to look into it.

 **(There was so much...** **day for Harry and Ron.)**

Sirius cocked his head to the side curiously. What was so important about Friday? Other than the fact that it was the last day of classes before they got a break for the weekend.

 **(They finally managed... without getting lost once.)**

"Ah, yes that is quite the accomplishment, especially when the prefects haven't been doing their jobs." Minerva said with a small smile on her face. Sirius snorted in amusement. Yes, learning how to navigate the castle by themselves was quite the feat. Especially in just one week. It seemed Harry had a good sense of direction, which was good.

"I know, right?" Harry asked. A few people chuckled.

 **("What have we... sugar on his porridge.)**

Pomfrey nodded in satisfaction, "Good choice when you're not used to eating a lot." She said, she was glad that Harry at least knew not to eat a lot of heavy foods before his body was ready. Although she did wonder how much sugar he poured and hoped it wasn't too much. His body wouldn't have been used to large amounts of sugar, she was surprised he hadn't been sick on the train from it.

 **("Double Potions with... to see if it's true.")**

Luna spoke up then, "He's actually really fair to Ravens and Badgers, we are always trying to figure out what the Gryffindor's are complaining about. Sure, he can be a bit harsh with his points taking sometimes, but that's when we're breaking the rules." She said, making all the Lions in the room who went through his classroom turn to look at Severus incredulously.

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, "All the Gryffindor classes seem to, for some strange reason," He said with a glare at Dumbledore, "share classes with the Slytherin's. Many of my Slytherin's, and many from other Houses too, for that matter, have parents who are Death Eaters. Those parents would be expecting me to favor those children above others, almost to the point of cruelty. I am constantly being watched, even during detentions, I can't let up for fear of that student saying something about me being lenient where the wrong ears can hear it, and sometimes the Death Eater children find an excuse to come and see me even when I'm in detention with another student, just to see what I'm doing in private. I knew the Dark Lord would be returning, and I also knew that those parents would tell him if I was being nice to his enemies children, which would only put myself in further risk when I went back to spying. It would have either led to my death, or led to me not being able to get as much information as I could have." He said tiredly.

"So, yes, I am more lenient with the Ravens and Badgers than I am with the Lions, because the Ravens and Badgers are never in the company of other Snakes nearly as much as the Lions are. And the Lions have the smallest population of Death Eater children within their ranks." He finished. Although he had admittedly gone too far with Harry, he let his hatred of the father cloud his judgement. Both Draco's were staring at him like he had a second head, they never knew their godfather had so much to deal with. Every action was being watched, and every act was carefully planned to make sure those watching saw what they wanted to see, what they needed to see if he wanted to stay alive.

The other teachers looked at him guiltily, they knew that he was a spy, they all knew the Dark Lord would be returning someday, and all they did for years was berate him for being unfair and unreasonable when it came to the Snakes and Lions. When the whole time he was toeing a very thin line that could have meant either his death should he stumble on the wrong side, or his imprisonment for child cruelty and abuse. Because if he ever went to far in his act for the Death Eater children, that is exactly what could have happened.

 **("Wish McGonagall favored... homework the day before.)**

"Of course not, how else am I going to know that you know the theory? Or that the lesson has stuck?" She asked, slightly scandalized that her Lions would suggest she give them less homework, if anything she would be giving them extra. The Lions grimaced, but nodded in agreement to appease their Head of House.

 **(Just then, the mail... Great Hall during breakfast,)**

"What if they leave messes?" Dudley asked, he himself was a little shocked at hearing about it, he could only imagine how shocked he would be at seeing it for the first time.

"They are well trained." Was his answer.

"Although, if they do make a mess, its not difficult to clean up." Harry said, thinking of the few times he had seen a family owl fly over somebody and leave them a present on their head. Usually, their target was somebody who had been bullying their human. Owls were very protective of their humans. Especially when their humans were younger...

 **(circling the tables until...** **Harry anything so far.)**

"Not like I had anybody for her to bring me anything from." Harry muttered absently as he considered the antlers on the stag.

He was so absorbed in his drawing he missed the guilty look on Sirius face and the angry one on Remus's, Sirius because he had been more focused on the rat than he was on his godson, letting his pup go to that place, and Remus because he had sent Harry letters. He sent Harry a letter the first night of school, when Harry hadn't answered, he had thought that maybe Harry didn't want to talk to him, so he stopped writing. He still sent presents, but he never wrote again. Now, he knew that Harry never got his letter, like he never got his Christmas and birthday presents.

 _Harry_ glanced up at Sirius, and saw the look on his face, so he rolled his eyes at his older self, who had yet to glance up, and put his drawing to the side to try and comfort his godfather as best he could. While he was angry at the fact that Sirius had just left him with Hagrid, Sirius had honestly thought he was being taken to a Healer, so he took the opportunity to go after the traitor before coming back for him. He honestly thought he was going to come back.

 **(She sometimes flew in... with the other school owls.)**

Harry smiled at the owl currently perched on the couch arm beside his younger self, while Luna murmured something about just wanting him to make sure she was back from her hunt safely. They all knew that Hedwig would go sleep while Harry had classes and then come find him shortly before dinner and spend the rest of the evening perched on his shoulder if she could. Those two spent every second they could together, always have.

 **(This morning, however,...** _ **with Hedwig.**_

 _ **Hagrid.)**_

Sirius smiled at Hagrid in thanks while a couple teachers muttered about putting Harry on a salary, and making it his job to read Hagrid's handwriting, and possibly rewriting it for them so it was more legible.

 **(Harry borrowed Ron's... and sent Hedwig off again.)**

"After she ate all his bacon, of course." Ron teased, while Harry scowled for a moment before smiling fondly and Hedwig preened.

She may not be the Hedwig that belonged to the older chick, but that didn't mean she wasn't proud of her accomplishment. She just hoped that her new chick made sure there was plenty of bacon available, especially if he expected to have any.

 _Harry_ turned to look at Hedwig before making a mental note to have more than enough bacon at all times.

 **(It was lucky that... had happened to him so far.)**

Severus winced minutely, and Sirius and Remus both turned to glare at him suspiciously. Just because the past couple of days and the presence of _Harry_ forced Sirius to behave civilly (and the fact that, if he was honest about it, Severus never deserved any of what they put him through) did not mean that he would take any torment he put his godson through. If Severus did anything, Sirius just might give them a reason to keep him in Azkaban when these books were over.

Remus already knew most of how Harry was treated by Severus, so he was less suspicious and more promising of what would happen to Severus if he heard that most of the rumors he chalked up to as being exaggerated, weren't very exaggerated.

 **(At the start-of-term... Harry- he _hated_ him.)**

Severus grimaced, "By this point, I had heard _all_ about what happened on the train." He said 'all' about as sarcastically as he could. He was still disbelieving that his godson had lied to him like that. Draco grimaced. He still needed to start writing his lines later on. And then, of course he would be assisting in the Potion Lab his godfather would have appear somewhere, and no dessert. He still couldn't believe he got off so lightly.

 **(Potions lessons took... up in the main castle,)**

"Why is that anyway? It's awful in the winter!" Ron complained.

"It's to preserve the ingredients better, make them last longer. You can't just put preservation charms on them, the magic would interfere." Neville said, surprising everyone.

"Mr. Longbottom?" Severus asked, shocked. How did the Potions Disaster know that? Although, now that he thought about it... the boy was pretty good with his essays... it was just putting him in front of a cauldron where things went wrong, he supposed.

"You do the same thing in Herbology with some of the plant cuttings, store them in a cool, dry place so they last until you get around to planting them. And using magic on some of them only wilts them faster, because it interferes with the natural magic of the plant." He explained further. He knew he was no good in front of a cauldron, early on, he was too scared of Professor Snape, and then later on he just... the fear of the professor was gone, but now it was so deeply rooted that it still carried over and interfered with his practical work with potions. But, he still knew what he was doing with plants, and a lot of the ingredients in potions were plant based.

Pomona nodded in agreement with what Neville said, it was certainly true.

 **(and would have been... all around the walls.)**

Both Dudley's got looks of disgust on their faces while, even unconscious, their mother still managed to look disgusted before her face smoothed out again. Poppy took that as a sign that she would be waking up soon.

Severus saw the looks and smirked. Those were rare ingredients, if he used them to creep the students out a little... besides, it also served to show him which students would be good in potions. A true Master didn't let ingredients gross them out. They couldn't.

 **(Snape, like Flitwick... paused at Harry's name.)**

"Except he wasn't eager to finally get to teach Harry." Ron muttered under his breath. Hermione jabbed him in the side and gestured toward Remus, who was looking them with raised eyebrows, having heard all of it. Ron just looked at him before turning back to her and shrugging. It was the truth.

 **("Ah, yes," he said... Our new- _celebrity._ ")**

Remus and Sirius both looked at each other warily. That didn't sound good. They hadn't even begun anything yet and Severus was already calling Harry out. They were so going to regret all those pranks and other tricks they pulled on Severus when they were younger. Not that they didn't kind of regret it already...

Harry scowled, it's not like he asked to be a celebrity. He was perfectly content living with his parents back then, but _somebody,_ coughTomRiddlecough, decided to come and mess that all up.

 **(Draco Malfoy and... behind their hands.)**

Remus and Sirius scowled, wondering what was so funny about that and why the bad feeling they had about this class was getting worse. Draco turned a little bit red. He didn't even remember why he thought that was funny...

 **(Snape finished calling... none of Hagrid's warmth.)**

"They can be quite warm looking, when he's in a good mood." Draco defended.

"Mostly when he's brewing or with people he actually cares about." _Draco_ added. They would have continued, but Severus clamped his hands down on their knees and muttered something in their ears about them ruining his carefully cultivated reputation. Then he thought of something to add to his list. He had a feeling that if his younger self and Moody did everything right, then he could be free of the Dark Lord by the beginning of the _kids_ first school year... which meant he would be able to teach how he wanted to without having to worry about keeping the Death Eater parents off his back about how he treated the 'enemy children'...

Yes, he would have to write out some form of a plan... specifically geared towards making sure Dumbledore didn't interfere when he and Moody did what needed to be done, how they knew they needed to do it, not how the old man seemed to think it needed to be done.

 **(They were cold and empty and made you think of dark tunnels.)**

 _Draco_ winced. His godfather was in a really bad mood that day. Probably because of Harry, he knew that his godfather hated James Potter, and he had heard Severus grumbling about having to put up with the mans spoiled son when started Hogwarts. Contrary to popular belief, Severus actually enjoyed teaching... when the students were behaving and paying attention that was... Although now that they knew that Harry Potter was NOT, in any way spoiled...

 **("You are here to... silent without effort.)**

Both Minerva and Severus let a smirk cross their faces. It was really more like an art-form than anything else. It truly was.

 **("As there is little... usually have to teach.")**

Minerva raised an eyebrow, "That was a nice speech... until the end." She said to her colleague. Severus merely raised an eyebrow at her and went back to writing. He happened to like his speech, thank you very much. It helped him see which students would take his class seriously, see who would take the challenge...

Both Dudley's eyes were wide. Could Potions really do all that? That sounded amazing! And Potions didn't seem like a subject that required magic to learn... maybe he could ask to learn how to make them? Dudley made a mental note to ask later.

 **(More silence followed... with raised eyebrows.)**

Harry shrugged, "I was more interested, although after the last bit, I started to get a bad feeling." He explained. "That, and I've never heard a teacher call a bunch of students names before..." He said thoughtfully before he shrugged again and went back to his drawing. He was going to put these in a bag later on along with everything else he got from the room to give to _Harry_ later. Like the wand holster. All his family heirlooms and such would be staying with Moody until it could be put back in the Potter Vaults where they belonged.

Ron shrugged too, "I was thinking that he'd already proven my brothers right." Molly looked at her youngest son disapprovingly, although she had to admit that he did have a point.

 **(Hermione Granger was... that she wasn't a dunderhead.)**

Severus looked at the girl and frowned, she had taken his little challenge a little too seriously... it had caused many, many headaches having to grade her essays. The other teachers frowned too, they hadn't seen this kind of eagerness in their classes. Yes, she was eager, but not quite like this... then again, they also didn't have _quite_ the reputation that Severus had for being hard on the students. Especially when it came to Gryffindor House. Yes, he was fair to the Ravens and Badgers, but that didn't mean he went easy on them.

 **("Potter!" said Snape suddenly.)**

"Why are you picking him first thing? You haven't even lectured on anything." Sirius asked, suspicious. Severus looked suddenly uncomfortable. He wasn't going to tell the dogfather that this had been Harry's 'last chance', as it were, to prove to Severus that he wasn't like his father. Him not knowing the answers had kind of cemented it further for him.

 **("What would I get... infusion of wormwood?")**

Sirius's eyes widened and he glared at Severus, how dare he ask such questions right off the bat! This was a fifth year question! Despite it being used in the introductory books as an example, Severus didn't know that Harry would have even needed those books! Let alone that he needed them and hadn't gotten them anyway! He was going to be having words with the Potions Master later, when his godsons weren't in the room listening.

Hermione had her head cocked to the side. She seemed to be considering something. Finally, she spoke. "Professor, you wouldn't happen to be fluent in the language of flowers, would you?" She asked. Neville looked confused for a moment, before he seemed to understand what Hermione was thinking, which just left the rest of them, except for Sirius, Pomona and Luna, confused. Sirius's glare changed to a considering look.

Severus looked at her and closed his eyes, resigned. "Miss Granger, I am fluent in many languages. That does happen to be one... Lily taught it to me, it is, along with the tradition of naming their girls after flowers, an Evans family tradition to learn it." He said as he laid his head back. "And yes, it is one of my greatest regrets." He said, answering her unasked question.

"Evans family tradition?" Harry asked. Severus looked at him, confused, then understanding bloomed in his eyes when he saw that both Dudley's seemed equally confused. Then, that understanding turned to anger and he turned to glare at Petunia, putting his knowledge of languages to good use and cursing her in a way the younger ears wouldn't understand, making sure not to use any languages that he knew _Draco_ was currently learning.

"I knew she hadn't told you anything of your mother, her sister, but to deny the _BOTH_ of you knowledge of her own family? What is she thinking?" He hissed furiously in English. Harry cocked his head to the side, he was hissing so much it almost became Parsel. Interesting. Finally, he calmed down enough to look at the four boys denied their Evans heritage with a considering look on his face, finally, he nodded as if making a decision. "I don't know much, but I can tell you what Lily told me. Later, when we have more time to just sit, for now I will just say that the Evans family has a history almost as rich as some of the old wizarding families. They may not have been rich and influential _all_ throughout history, but... they had their moments." When the time came for that talk, he was going to have the room acquire the family tree Lily had done at Gringotts for herself back in fourth year, if he remembered right there were some wizarding names on it somewhere...

Arthur looked considering, "So, basically, Lily's family was like the Weasley's of the Muggle world. Even when we were wealthy and influential, we still lived humbly, and we, of course, had our ups and downs." Severus considered for a moment, before he nodded in agreement, yes, that analogy was accurate enough, he supposed. Of course, the Weasley's were much more known than the Evans were, but... it fit. He would also need some pictures of the boys grandparents... they were wonderful people and it was disgusting how Petunia seemed to have completely written them out of her life, not even telling Dudley about them.

 **( _Powdered_** _ **root of...**_ **hand had shot into the air.)**

Pomona cocked her head to the side, she wasn't asked. Although, she supposed, Severus would at least know she knew and could call on her since it was clear Harry didn't know. Unless, of course, Severus was targeting Harry, in which case he would just ignore Hermione.

 **("I don't know, sir,"...** **clearly isn't everything.")**

"How was he supposed to know?" Sirius finally demanded, while everyone else shot Severus disappointed or disapproving looks at targeting an eleven year old like that. "That's a fifth year question, even if he did have those introductory books!" He said hotly.

"I was hoping he would at least have his mother's aptitude for Potions." Severus muttered tiredly. "I was also hoping he would know Evans family tradition, but apparently not." He said quietly to himself. Sirius narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth to say something else, but Remus stopped him, saying that they would never finish this chapter if they kept going at it the whole time, save it for the end, he, too, shot Severus a dark look.

 _Harry_ just wondered what fame had to do with not knowing an answer during the first ten minutes of his first ever class in that subject.

 **(He ignored Hermione's hand.)**

Pomona nodded, yes, he was going to ignore her.

 **("Let's try again... find me a bezoar?")**

Sirius grumbled a bit, at least that was a second year question... although he was getting a little suspicious after Hermione's question about the language of flowers.

Ron and Harry looked a bit grateful and relieved, probably because this question saved Ron's life in sixth year.

Severus sighed and looked at the over-protective mutts wearily. Now it was at the point where he had been trying to make sure Potter didn't have a giant ego, that his head was shrunk down to size, as Severus at the time believed it needed to be.

 **(Hermione stretched her... her leaving her seat,)**

Pomona frowned. Severus wasn't asking the class for the answer, he was asking Harry specifically, so why was she still trying to get his attention? He would have to have been blind not to have seen her when she first put her hand up, so why was she still trying after already having been ignored? It was extremely rude and show-offish to the rest of the students, no wonder they isolated her in the beginning.

 **(but Harry didn't have... were shaking with laughter.)**

"What is so funny about another student not knowing an answer when it's the first day of class?" Remus asked mildly with a raised eyebrow. If he recalled correctly, he had asked Draco the same thing back when he was teaching Defense.

Draco went red and muttered something that nobody could quite understand. Severus glared until they went back to the book. He wasn't about to let them start in on his godson, not with him there. With him there, his godson was his responsibility, therefore he would handle any punishments or talking to's the boy needed.

"We were also laughing at Hermione." Draco said, louder, before the book had a chance to start again.

 **("I don't know, sir."...** **coming, eh, Potter?")**

"I did." Harry said with a suddenly hard voice, not looking up from his drawing. "Those questions were nowhere in it, I checked later." Severus blinked at him, he hadn't thought that the boy would have gone later and looked it up.

He shrank back slightly as Sirius glared at him. Normally, he would be sneering at the man, but he was tired at fighting, the past year had been hard and mentally exhausting.

 **(Harry forced himself... those cold eyes.)**

"Severus, you weren't reading surface thoughts, were you?" Dumbledore asked mildly.

"No, although I kind of wish I had, then perhaps I might have backed off some." Severus said, ignoring Sirius's scowl.

 **(He _had_ looked through... _Magical Herbs and Fungi?)_**

"Wrong book." A few people muttered. Harry looked up and scowled.

 **(Snape was still ignoring Hermione's quivering hand.)**

By this point, all three of the other Heads of House were frowning at the older girl. They hadn't seen this behavior in their classes. Granted, they also didn't tend to pick on one student. If they had really looked instead of being lost in thought as they stared at her, they would have seen Hermione sinking into her seat, embarrassed.

" _Miss Granger,"_ Pomona finally said, turning to the younger girl. "While I admire your need to prove yourself, when a teacher asks one student a question, waving your hand about anyway is extremely rude. Not to mention distracting and off-putting to the other student while they are trying to think of the answer. It will only cause the other students to isolate you even more and make it even harder to get along with them." She said sternly. She seemed to have taken it upon herself to instill some... more polite classroom habits into the girl before they ended up setting her loose on their own younger selves. Not to mention making sure she didn't turn in essays that were feet more than they should be. And, hopefully, make it so that _Ron_ and _Harry_ weren't the only ones who would even speak to the girl.

 _Hermione_ bit her lip and looked down for a second, before she looked back up at the teachers and nodded her understanding.

"Verbal response, please, _Miss Granger_ , I will tell you now that I detest when students just nod or shrug." Severus warned her.

She blinked before responding, "Yes, sir. And thank you, ma'am, I will work on that." She said to Pomona. The teacher nodded and told her to see that she did.

 **("What is the difference... monkshood and wolfsbane?")**

Sirius frowned, but looked at Severus thoughtfully. If he remembered his flower meanings correctly (Lily was determined that he learn them for some strange reason) he just apologized, while warning Harry to stay away. He would have to wait and hear what the plants he used were again.

 **(At this, Hermione... toward the dungeon ceiling.)**

"That was extremely distracting." Harry muttered. "I knew I had read something about that somewhere, but I couldn't remember with you jumping around beside me." Harry said, glancing at Hermione. She blushed while _Hermione_ looked like she was seriously considering what Pomona had said.

 **("I don't know," said...** **however, was not pleased.)**

"That was exactly the kind of response your father would have come up with back before he grew up some, to humiliate somebody. You saying it only solidified the image in my head of you being just like him." Severus said, he knew it was petty, and he regretted how he treated the boy. Who he now knew to have been nothing like he blinded himself to believe. Just the past couple of days had been enough for him to see that he was wrong.

Harry frowned. "I didn't say it to humiliate her, I really did want you to just let her answer it already and stop humiliating me by asking me a bunch of stuff when I had no idea. That, and I was tired of her trying to answer even with you ignoring her."

Severus sighed and nodded, "Yes, I think I understand that now." He said. He missed the silent conversation going on between Sirius and Remus.

 **("Sit down," he snapped... Draught of Living Death.)**

"What does Draught of the Living Death do?" Dudley asked, curious.

Severus raised an eyebrow. "It puts the drinker into a deep sleep... almost deep enough as to mimic death, depending on the dosage. Of course, if it's not made precisely and carefully, then the drinker could be sent into a permanent sleep." He explained.

Poppy nodded, "It's mostly used in hospitals... I believe it would be the equivalent of a Doctor sending a patient into a drug induced coma, to help their bodies to heal without the patient moving around and making it harder."

 **(A bezoar is a stone... the name of aconite.)**

Hermione, Neville, Sirius, Luna all looked at the Potions Master in varying states of shock. Pomona just blinked at him before she became lost in her thoughts. Professor Snape had more or less just apologized and then gave his condolences for Lily Potter's death, and then warned Harry that he, Snape, was dangerous. All wrapped up in random questions about potions ingredients. They didn't say anything though, although Sirius looked at him calculatingly.

He didn't say anything though... yet.

 **(Well? Why aren't you all copying that down?")**

"Because you didn't tell them to, you were too busy attacking another student." Remus said dryly, although everyone could hear the dangerous undertone if they cared to listen. Severus heard his tone and tensed, watching Remus warily. He'd been wary of the wolf ever since he faced him under the Whomping Willow, and he didn't like having the wolf annoyed with him, no matter how much he acted otherwise. He just did not want to risk the man losing control and going off on him. Remus was usually pretty mild tempered, though, but when he went off...

He hadn't done it yet, he'd been too busy focusing on making sure Harry was alright. And it was clear he was quickly becoming annoyed over Severus attacking his cub.

 **(There was a sudden rummaging... for your cheek, Potter.")**

"The words may have been something James Potter would have said, but the tone was exactly like Lily's when she was warning somebody to stop messing with her and leave her alone already." Severus muttered. That had thrown him off enough that he only took one point instead of the five he had meant to take. Harry looked startled for a moment before he grinned.

Over the years he had heard a lot about his father, but very little of his mother.

Everyone else was just startled that a point was all he had taken off.

 **(Things didn't improve... potion to cure boils.)**

"Did you at least go over safety first?" Remus asked, slightly alarmed when the only thing it said happened was that they started the potion. Going over safety rules was what Slughorn had done, and, yes, accidents still happened, but the students at least knew what to do and what to NOT do.

"...I made sure they knew enough so they didn't kill themselves."

That... wasn't reassuring.

 **(He swept around in... whom he seemed to like.)**

"Of course I do, he's my godson... even if he can be an annoying spoiled little brat." Severus said, and the Lions all felt their jaws hit the floor at the teasing note in his voice at the last bit. Draco just huffed and pretended to be a little offended, but he had a quirk to his lips that gave him away.

Minerva blinked at him for a moment, before she reprimanded gently, knowing this was years in the past and he couldn't be nice to some of the students. "Even so, I hope the criticism was at least as constructive as you could make it given the circumstances." She said, and he blinked back at her before nodding. In his opinion, it was constructive.

 **(He was just telling... loud hissing filled the dungeon.)**

All those who knew Potions flinched, because that was not good.

"Sounds like somebody added porcupine quills too soon." Sirius said after taking a moment to think through the recipe of a boil cure. It took him longer than he liked, his mind was still foggy from prison. He should talk to Poppy later on, he recalled reading about a new treatment for Dementor exposure shortly before he went to prison.

Severus actually looked surprised, "How on earth did you know that?" He asked, shocked that Sirius Black knew something like that. He hadn't exactly been the most studious in class, although he supposed that he couldn't have become an Auror without good grades... and he was in the NEWT class.

Sirius looked amused, "I wouldn't have been an Auror if I didn't know my potions." He said, and Moody smirked. He had made sure of it.

 **(Neville had somehow... into a twisted blob,)**

"That is actually a rather impressive feat." Remus said.

Sirius snorted, "Oh please, as if you weren't melting your own cauldron about every week." He said, and Severus smirked for a second before it disappeared. A few other people who had seen Remus with a potion in front of him smiled or chuckled while Remus turned red.

One thing Remus Lupin had never been good at, was Potions.

 **(and their potion was... the cauldron collapsed,)**

A few flinched, that would hurt. With the stage the potion had been in, instead of curing boils, it would cause them.

Poppy suddenly understood why she had been curing Neville of boils that day. Neville had refused to say. She had a guess, but without Neville saying anything, a guess was all she had.

 **(moaned in pain as... his arms and legs.)**

They flinched again. That did sound painful. Neville grimaced at the memory. Molly wanted to go mother the boy, but Arthur held her back.

 **("Idiot boy!" snarled Snape,)**

"Whoa, hey!" Came the general protest.

"No wonder the boy was always so terrified of you." Minerva exclaimed. Severus didn't say anything, just looked at Neville with regret in his eyes. Not that everybody could see it. Neville was Lily's godson after all.

He ignored everyone's glares and how Neville shrunk down into his seat. He had gotten more confident over the years, but sometimes he could get lost in memory.

 **(clearing the spilled potion... cauldron off the fire?")**

"Actually, professor," Neville started hesitantly, but gained confidence as he spoke. "The quills were thrown into our cauldron from the Slytherin's side of the room. While you were praising Draco with your back turned to us." Honestly, he had been doing fine before that, and then after that incident, the way the Potions Master had reacted, had just reminded him so much of his Uncle Algie, he was terrified to be in the man's presence and, thus, turned into a walking disaster in Potions. He could brew just fine at home though.

Severus actually looked taken aback, he almost scoffed and said that his Snakes would never sabotage another's cauldron, they knew the dangers, they also knew exactly what he would do if he caught them at it. But then he paused and thought that over in his head. If he _caught them_ at it. They were Snakes, they knew exactly how to _not_ be caught. Then he remembered that he _had_ caught them at it a couple of times. But that was never the first lesson of the year! He closed his mouth and looked thoughtful for a moment, then asked who.

Neville shook his head, "We didn't see who, we just know where it came from."

"Why didn't you say anything then?" Minerva asked quietly, watching as Severus processed the fact that one of his Snakes would ignore the dangers of potions like that and risk his wrath by messing around in his subject.

"Because we had already heard about how he favors the Slytherins, we knew he wouldn't do anything about it even if we did have proof and a name." Harry said. He hadn't seen anybody throw anything either, but if he had, he doubted he would have said anything, just like Seamus and Neville kept quiet. Besides, the amount of his own potions sabotaged over the years?

Severus sighed, "On the contrary, Mr. Longbottom. I will not stand for willful sabotage of another's potion. If I had known there was sabotage involved, even just the idea, I would have investigated further, and the culprit would have been regretting ever stepping foot in my dungeons. More so if they were a Slytherin. Since I am the Potions Master as well as their Head of House, they make sure they work extra hard in my class, and I make sure they know exactly what will happen to them if I catch them doing anything but focusing on their own cauldron's." He said, and Draco nodded beside him.

"At the beginning of every year, he gathers all of us in the Common Room and makes sure we know the rules, both as Snakes and in the Potions Classroom. And he may not punish us in public, but he lets us have it in private." He said.

The Gryffindors taught by Severus over the years all blinked, then looked at each other before they looked back at Severus and promised to tell him about every single potion sabotaged over the years by the Slytherins. Luna was the only one who didn't say anything, but then she never had a potions class with the Snakes. Draco gulped quietly, an act not missed by his godfather, he had sabotaged his share of Lion potions over the years. Severus narrowed his eyes at his godson.

He wouldn't dare. Would he?

 **(Neville whimpered as boils started to pop up all over his nose.)**

Draco spoke up, "It was Blaise. Blaise threw the quills in the cauldron." He said, looking straight forward. Severus looked at him before he made a note on his parchment to keep an extra close eye on his Snakes during class.

 **("Take him up to... on Harry and Ron,)**

"Excuse me?" Remus growled, looking very close to attacking now. He was starting to lose control, children or no children. Harry and Sirius looked at each other before Harry put his drawing pad down and they both stood up and walked Remus out of the room before he went feral right in front of the kids that didn't know he was a wolf.

It took a good fifteen minutes and Sirius turning into Padfoot before he calmed down.

When they finally got him calm, and the threat was over with, Harry had to calm Sirius down. "Siri, he's going to say a lot things in these books, we don't exactly have the best of relationships. He is going to do stuff that makes you mad, I am going to do stuff that he punishes me unfairly for, it is going to happen. You need to stay calm though, and not attack him every time." He said, a little desperately.

Sirius watched him for a moment before turning around to face the wall, breathing deep for a few minutes before he finally punched the wall (while imagining it to be Severus's face) and stood there for a minute. Finally, he turned around and stalked back out into the reading room, closely followed by Harry and a still ticked werewolf.

 **(who had been working next to Neville.)**

Harry muttered something that nobody quite caught, but Ron snickered about it.

 **("You- Potter- why didn't you tell him not to add the quills?)**

"Maybe because I was focusing on my own potion, and Ron was sitting between me and Neville?" Harry asked dryly while Remus began to growl and _Harry_ had to shift so he was sitting with his legs across Sirius lap, so Sirius wouldn't get up and attack Severus. He was tense like he wanted to, Harry had already silenced him, otherwise the death threats he was spewing would probably not be appropriate for many of the ears in the room. It was clear that the young ears and eyes in the room as well as what Harry said earlier was the only reason Remus was holding himself back from attacking.

 **(Thought he'd make... lost for Gryffindor.")**

"Just one?" Was asked around the room. It was very confusing, Severus had only taken two points off Harry so far, when he was known for taken ten at a time at minimum. Once he took one hundred points in a double lesson.

"He reminded me too much of Lily earlier in the lesson." Severus said stiffly.

 **(This was so unfair that Harry opened his mouth to argue,)**

"I was waiting for you to argue so I could take more points," Severus admitted. He'd actually been a little disappointed when it hadn't happened, because he'd been feeling a little odd, with being nice to the boy, he had wanted to feel like normal again. Harry looked up and tilted his head, but then shrugged (that was about how their relationship worked sometimes) and went back to his drawing. It was almost done.

 **(but Ron kicked him behind their cauldron.)**

"That hurt." Harry said, glaring slightly at Ron. Ron shrugged, unrepentant.

 _Harry_ and _Ron_ watched their interactions before looking at each other. They hoped they were that close someday.

 **("Don't push it," he... can turn very nasty.")**

"He can." The Twins chorused before they shuddered. Back in their second year, he had ripped into a student so thoroughly, that the student in question transferred to Ilvermorny the next day after needing to go see Madam Pomfrey for a series of Calming Draughts. Severus faced an inquiry from the Board, but all the students said the same thing, that other student had almost gotten everyone in the Dungeons killed, not just the classroom. The Board fully agreed, that while Severus could have been a little less verbal, he did nothing wrong. Ilvermorny had also been informed that she was not to be near a cauldron, EVER. At least not without direct, constant supervision.

It had been terrifying for them to watch.

Severus looked at them for a moment before he realized what they were thinking about and he smirked a little at the memory before he scowled. That Dunderhead almost blew up the castle and killed everybody! How on earth was such a thing even possible with such a simple potion?! All they were doing was reviewing a first year potion.

 **(As they climbed the... his very first week-)**

All the Gryffindor's snorted. Two points was nothing, considering Harry lost fifty at a time on multiple occasions, of course he always got it back during Quidditch games. Although... maybe that was why Severus took so much off Harry in the first place, to try and give Slytherin a chance...

 **( _why_ did Snape hate him so much?)**

Severus shifted, "It's not exactly _you_ I hated, but rather... what you meant." He told Harry.

Harry looked at him with his eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. "What I meant?" He asked, but Severus refused to answer.

Sirius and Remus looked they understood some of it though. After all, there had been a betting pool, up until the incident in fifth year, on how long after Hogwarts Severus would wait before he and Lily got married. Of course, the fact that Severus had thought Harry to be a carbon-copy of his father, would not have helped his attitude towards Harry, either.

 **("Cheer up," said Ron,... meet Hagrid with you?")**

"Yer always welcome at me hut." Hagrid informed _Ron, Harry, Hermione,_ and even _Draco._ Despite the treatment Hagrid received at the hands of Draco and most of the other Slytherins over the years.

 **(At five to three they... outside the front door.)**

"What's the crossbow for?" _Ron_ asked curiously.

"When I need to go inter the Forest. There's a lot of powerful creatures inside the Fores', and I don't have me magic, so..." Hagrid said with a shrug.

Harry looked up at Hagrid and frowned, then he got another piece of parchment and started writing a letter. He didn't know why he didn't do this years ago, but he knew what happened, and he was going to make sure that Madam Bones knew it too, from what he heard about her, he knew that she would at least hear it out. He stopped for a second and glanced at Dumbledore. Why did he never do anything about this? Moody could give it to her. When they reached that part in the book, Moody would probably make a note of it himself.

 **(When Harry knocked... several booming barks.)**

"Do you still have Claw?" Sirius asked, curious.

"No, he died a little before James and Lily died. The last I saw James, was just a few days before that Halloween when he brought me Fang as a pup." Hagrid said. "I still don't know how he knew Claw died, but he did." Hagrid said with a smile.

Harry looked at him in amazement, before he grabbed his drawing book and opened it to a fresh page before lightly writing down his new idea, a Stag and Fang as a puppy running through the trees. On the back of it, he wrote that it was for Hagrid, and he went to the one he set aside for the Lily and Mrs. Norris, and wrote that that one was for Argus Filch. He would make a copy of them for _Harry_ to keep.

"He sounds eager." Fred and George said, talking about Fang.

Hagrid grinned and nodded. Fang was always eager for visitors. He was a very social dog.

 **(Then Hagrid's voice rang...** **he said. " _Back_ , Fang.")**

Hagrid sighed fondly. "Sometimes he's jus' a little too excited..." He said with a grin.

 **(He let them in... enormous black boarhound.)**

"Is Fang really that strong? That even you struggle to hold him?" Minerva asked, a little surprised that Hagrid would be having trouble holding the dog.

"Jus' when he's excited." Hagrid said fondly.

 **(There was only one... patchwork quilt over it.)**

"That sounds cozy." _Hermione_ said with a smile at Hagrid. Neither Draco said anything, although there was a faint grimace on Draco's face. She may think it sounded cozy, but compared to what he was used to, it was a hovel.

Hagrid smiled at the girl, glad that she liked it.

 **("Make yerselves at home,"... started licking his ears.)**

"Why is it always the ears?" Ron complained.

Harry smirked, "He likes you."

"He likes my ears." Ron grumbled. Hermione smirked at him and Hagrid chuckled at them.

 **(Like Hagrid, Fang was clearly not as fierce as he looked.)**

"Nope." Ron, Harry, and Draco all said. Ron and Harry were both thinking about watching Fang hiding under his bed after the whole thing with Aragog, while Draco was thinking about Fang running even before he did that time in the forest near the unicorn.

"He's a coward." They all said again. Everyone just turned to stare at the three boys, but none of them were looking at each other, they were too busy grumbling to themselves about how much of a coward Fang was.

 **("This is Ron," Harry told... rock cakes onto a plate.)**

Ron and Harry winced, those things should never be eaten, they were very painful. Especially on teeth.

 **("Another Weasley, eh?"... away from the forest.")**

Said Twins high-fived each other while their mother narrowed her eyes at them, and Sirius chuckled. "And the other half was spent chasing us." He said with a smile.

"And me!" Harry chimed in.

"Of course there are also the times where you didn't catch us." Remus pointed out smugly. The others grinned and nodded while the teachers groaned. These troublemakers gave them all premature grey hairs.

 **(The rock cakes were... almost broke their teeth,)**

Hagrid winced. "Sorry 'bout tha'. You didn't have ter keep eating them, though." He knew he wasn't the greatest cook. He knew it.

"It's ok, Hagrid, that's what potions are for." Harry said with a wry grin. It was one of the few potions he could brew without a recipe. He could brew others with a recipe, given a chance to actually brew without sabotage, but given how often he had tea at Hagrid's and ate his rock cakes, he had to learn how to brew a teeth strengthener. Severus raised an eyebrow at him, curious, but not wanting to ask.

 **(but Harry and Ron pretended to be enjoying them)**

"You don' have to pretend. It would have been fine." Hagrid said, shaking his head.

"It's alright, We didn't want to hurt your feelings or anything." Harry said with a smile at his large friend. Hagrid shook his head again, while the other teachers smiled at him fondly.

 **(as they told Hagrid... all over his robes.)**

Harry smirked at Ron, who glared. "Why is it, every single time the dog attacks my ears, while all you get is some drool on your robes?" Harry's smirk just grew, but he didn't answer.

A few people chuckled, and _Ron_ and _Harry_ glanced at each other. They really hoped that they could be that close someday, to be able to argue like that and it not actually mean anything.

 **(Harry and Ron were... Filch "that old git.")**

Both Ron and Harry shrugged when the adults looked questioning. "He already made us not like him." Harry explained.

"Yeah, and it had only been the first week." Ron agreed.

Minerva sighed, "Which for him would be a new record." She said as she shook her head.

 **("An' as fer that... her to Fang sometime.)**

Harry made a face and gave Hagrid a dark look. Both Mrs. Norris and Fang were presents for their respective owners from his parents. Before, he didn't like Mrs. Norris either, but now that he knew what he did... they were both a piece of his parents. He didn't want anything happening to either of them. When they died, it would be from old age after being well taken care of.

 **(D'yeh know, every... puts her up to it.")**

"He does." Minerva confirmed with a wry grin.

 **(Harry told Hagrid about..** **. "Why should he?")**

"Oh, I don't know. There could be several reasons, one of them by the name of James Potter and the other by the name of Sirius Black." Harry muttered, looking at Hagrid with a raised eyebrow. Sirius coughed and shifted uncomfortably. It seemed like Harry hadn't been too happy when he first found out about all that... whenever that was. Remus had already told him that Harry knew about some of the 'pranks' pulled on Severus when they were in school, but he'd been unsure of just how much Harry knew.

Of course, Remus had also said that Harry had been a little angry with them over the incident at the end of fifth year.

Hagrid smiled sheepishly, he hadn't wanted to give Harry a bad impression of his parents... what orphan would want to hear that his dad was one of the biggest bullies in school? Sure, a lot of their pranks were harmless fun... but they also had their targets.

 **(Yet Harry couldn't help... when he said that.)**

"Hagrid, you're a really bad liar." Harry said seriously.

Hermione snorted. "Pretty bad at keeping secrets, too." She muttered.

 **("How's yer brother... great with animals.")**

"Thanks, Hagrid." Charlie said with a smile. The Weasley boys had been pretty quiet this chapter.

 **(Harry wondered if... subject on purpose.)**

Hagrid turned red in embarrassment at being caught out like that.

"Something else you need to work on." Hermione said with a small, fond smile.

 **(While Ron told Hagrid... from the _Daily Prophet:)_**

"Oh, no." Hermione muttered. "This is where it really kicked off, isn't it? He'd forgotten all about it until this point, didn't he? This reminded him." She asked Ron with a long-suffering look on her face. Ron nodded gloomily.

The teachers looked at each other before groaning, some of them had their heads in their hands and were shaking them.

 **(GRINGOTTS BREAK-IN LATEST...** **spokesgoblin this afternoon.)**

Bill nodded, "Yeah, they hate it when wizards try to stick their noses in. Especially when they are running investigations and testing security. Or, rather, having us poor, unsuspecting Curse-Breakers test security." Bill said with a sour look on his face. "I hate testing security." He muttered with a scowl.

Molly immediately looked worried. Her son was testing the security of Gringotts bank? A place notorious for having high security that was set at lethal levels?

The teachers were mentally begging Harry to just let it go.

 **(Harry remembered Ron... mentioned the date.)**

"Thankfully, or you would have started this earlier than you did." Minerva muttered.

 **("Hagrid!" said Harry,... while we were there!")**

"Please don't give it away, please don't give it away..." Minerva was begging under her breath. She knew Hagrid though, she knew that he was about to give it all away.

 **(There was no doubt... Harry's eyes this time.)**

The teachers groaned. "Hagrid, we really need to work on that." Remus informed him with a smirk. The Marauder's would have never gotten away with anything if they gave themselves away nearly as much as Hagrid did.

 **(He grunted and offered... thieves were looking for?)**

"Yes." Harry said bluntly. The teachers groaned again, why, WHY, did Lily and James have to get together and share their curiosity with their son? A curious James or a curious Lily was bad enough... their son was twice as bad as both of them!

They had so many grey hairs from the boy.

 **(As Harry and Ron... too polite to refuse,)**

"There's such a thing as being too polite." Minerva said, raising an eyebrow at the boys. "There's also such a thing as being polite to the point of endangering your health."

Ron shrugged. "We didn't actually eat them, not that we could, given how hard they were." She nodded in relief, as did Poppy. Although Poppy did wonder why she didn't see either boy for a teeth strengthening potion at any point.

 **(Harry thought that... package just in time?)**

"Yes."

 **(Where was it now?)**

"Under the trapdoor on the third floor guarded by Fluffy."

 **(And did Hagrid know... want to tell Harry?)**

"Yes, he did." Harry finished with a nod.

Everyone was silent for a moment. The teachers were cursing Harry's natural curiosity, while Dumbledore was pleased that it seemed like his plans were coming along. He hated having to do it, and he would have to keep a close eye on the situation to make sure the rest of the students wouldn't be in any danger... although from the sounds of it he would have to put a better locking charm on the door with Fluffy -maybe something keyed to _Harry's_ magical signature, so it would only open with _Harry_ nearby- to keep the rest of the students out, he hadn't factored a school full of curious teenagers into the equation, merely a curious Harry.

"Alright everyone! Food will be ready shortly, I will call you when it is." Molly said, breaking the silence and standing up to make her way towards the kitchen. Draco nodded and, with a glance at his godfather, went to find somewhere quiet so he could start his lines.

"Actually, Molly, we already have dinner for tonight planned. So, you can go just, I don't know, spend time with your family." Harry said, as he and his younger self rushed to get passed her and claim the kitchen before she could. She stood there shocked for a moment when the door closed behind the boys and locked with an audible click.

Inside the kitchen, the boys looked at their work-space and grinned when the necessary ingredients for what they wanted to make appeared.

"You start the potatoes, I'll start seasoning the steaks." Harry said. _Harry_ nodded in agreement before he grabbed the potatoes and took them to the sink to start washing and peeling them. Harry himself grabbed the steaks (he grinned when he saw one that was Hagrid sized) and blinked when a grill appeared against one wall, he tilted his head and blinked before he grinned. It had been a while since he grilled anything, the Dursleys got rid of their grill years ago, they said it was too much work, but Harry knew it was because he enjoyed using it. After starting a fire, he started rubbing spices into the meat and pounding it a bit to tenderize it. By the time he was done with that, _Harry_ was already cutting the potatoes so he could boil them and mash them later on.

As an after thought, Harry unlocked the door to the reading room and poked his head out to see who was there, when he saw the Weasley parents and the teachers in there talking, he quickly made sure nobody was allergic to garlic or anything, he really should have thought about this the day before when he and his younger self made lunch. Madam Pomfrey would have students medical records, so she would be able to tell the kitchen elves if there was anything any of the students couldn't eat and what house they were in so they could avoid using those ingredients when cooking. And, of course, Molly knew if any of her kids were allergic, and probably the Order members too. He was happy when Madam Pomfrey answered and said that there were no food allergies among the readers that she knew of, considering she had to test Harry herself due to his lack of medical records.

Now that the door was unlocked, Moody decided he would prefer to be in the room where the food was prepared as opposed to watching through the walls with his eye.

Harry looked up when he came in, "Hey, Mad-Eye, how do you like your steak?" He asked.

"Medium rare, if you please." Harry nodded as he put the steaks on the grill, making sure to keep the steaks for Bill and Remus to the outside so they would be a little extra rare. Moody waited until he was done and working on dessert while they cooked and _Harry_ worked on the bacon and stuff for the potatoes while the potatoes themselves boiled. He then put on some green beans, and some mushrooms on the stove to fry up a little later to put on the steak.

"So, how are you two boys doing? It must be difficult to have to read about your life like this. And, you," He nodded towards _Harry,_ "You didn't even know magic existed, and now suddenly there's magic, and you have a protective godfather and uncle." He said. Moody was many things, uncaring was not one of them.

Harry shrugged. "I'm used to strange things happening to me, I haven't had a single quiet year at Hogwarts, the quietest it's been was when I thought I had a murderous, traitor godfather after me... of course I found out later that he wasn't the traitor and it wasn't me he was after... so, yeah, this is just one more strange thing." He said, glancing towards Moody as he mixed stuff together for a treacle tart. He was planning on a chocolate mousse too.

 _Harry_ looked up from where he was chopping garlic and onions. "It has been a bit much to take in. I mean, a couple of days ago I thought my parents were unemployed drunks who died in a car crash, now I find out they were magical, wealthy, and influential in the government. I always dreamed about family coming to get me from the Dursleys, but it was always a dream, it was never going to happen, because there was nobody. But, now I find out that I have a godfather and uncle, but my godfather was imprisoned illegally, and my uncle wasn't allowed near me or he risked being executed. Somehow he ended up being my teacher though... I've always been told I had nothing, but..." He trailed off and shrugged.

"I've always been good at just taking whatever life throws as it comes." Harry said softly as he finished the treacle and flipped the steaks over. He was fast at making the treacle, the chocolate mousse shouldn't take long either.

 _Harry_ nodded in agreement. "It is a lot to get used to, suddenly I have a godfather who is trying to make sure I'm alright, and trying to make up for not being around. But I'll get used to it." He said with a smile in Moody's direction as he pulled the bacon off and tested the potatoes, they weren't quite ready yet. He also sprinkled some garlic into the mushrooms and started them on a low simmer, the rest would be mixed into the mashed potatoes.

Moody nodded and dropped the subject, instead sharing a few more stories about James Potter and Sirius Black from their training days. He had some pretty embarrassing ones, too.

When the food was done, they put the mashed potatoes and green beans in bowls and set them on the table, leaving the dessert on the counter for until they were done eating. They set out steak knives, butter, water and Butterbeer, and then wine for the adults. They left the steaks on the grill to stay warm while they called people in, and put the pan of mushrooms beside them on the grill so people could put them on their steak if they wanted. Naturally, they also set up the Dursleys and Dumbledore's table away from everyone else's, although they just got water. They did not want to deal with a Vernon who'd been drinking, especially not two of them.

Then they opened the door to the reading room to see if anyone was still in there, when he saw the teachers still there, talking quietly, he informed them dinner was ready and Pomona and Poppy decided to go and find the rest of the group and bring them into the kitchen.

When everyone came in, it was to a delicious smelling dinner, Harry had a smile on his face when he told them the steaks were on the grill, and pointed out which ones were which, there were a couple that were medium rare, some were well-done, with the steaks for Remus and Bill set off to the side. And there was more than enough for everyone to have two if they wanted. Dinner was full of laughter and compliments for the food, with the Dursleys and Dumbledore sitting quietly at their table (The Dursley's had all woken up sometime while the food was being made). Molly was also a little subdued, and Arthur was looking annoyed, so Harry figured they must have finally discussed Charlie's old wand.

Afterward, they decided to just spend the night together, no more reading for the night (Draco again disappeared somewhere to continue writing his lines). Although, they did pull _Dudley, Hermione,_ and _Harry_ aside. _Dudley_ to start some remedial lessons in everything he had _Harry_ do for him in school growing up, and _Hermione_ and _Harry_ so they could start learning some theory. They couldn't do much, otherwise they would be too far ahead when they started Hogwarts, but they could at least cover some of what was in the introductory books for the Muggleborns and wizarding customs.

They managed to get about two hours worth of lessons in (those hours with _Dudley_ were spent figuring out what he already knew and where they should start) before Sirius, Ginny, and Bill came to get their respective charges for bed. It had been decided that _Hermione_ would stay with Luna and Ginny with Olivander, while the Draco's would stay in Severus's room and _Ron_ would stay in Charlie's room with Percy and Neville. They would continue reading in the morning.

* * *

And, yes, I am taking a few liberties with Severus's personality a bit. This is how I feel his natural personality would be... when he's not holding a mask for the benefit of others. And after the year he had being the Headmaster and trying to make sure the Carrows stayed away from the students as much as possible while still trying to make sure his loyalties weren't called into question, which would have made it impossible for him to protect the students (you can't protect people when your dead, after all), he's just too mentally exhausted to keep his masks up, so he is showing the room some of his actual personality.

I just can't see Lily Evans being friends with someone quite as caustic and spiteful as Severus was in the books... yes, he was bitter and he'd been used and manipulated for most of his adult life, but I just can't see her hanging around someone like the book Severus.

 **Can people please not send a review asking for updates? I will update when I update. I do have a life and job outside of this website.**


	11. the Midnight Duel

**_Parseltongue_**

 _Sign language_

* * *

 _They managed to get about two hours worth of lessons in (those hours with_ Dudley _were spent figuring out what he already knew and where they should start) before Sirius, Ginny, and Bill came to get their respective charges for bed. It had been decided that_ Hermione _would stay with Luna and Ginny with Ollivander, while the Draco's would stay in Severus's room and_ Ron _would stay in Charlie's room with Percy and Neville. They would continue reading in the morning._

When everyone woke up, they could smell breakfast, and it smelled like heaven.

The Weasley boys (and girl), all frowned slightly. As good as that smelled, it didn't smell like anything their mother had ever made. Ron turned to look at Harry with a silent question (Hermione got them up), and Harry nodded slowly in answer, while Sirius and Remus were looking around their room in confusion, wondering where _Harry_ was. Both Dudleys grinned, looking forward to breakfast, they could smell that _Harry_ had made their favorite, and it wasn't often they got it, especially since Harry left for Hogwarts. Their mother didn't often have the ingredients in the house for Harry to make it.

Having the same thing every morning, no matter how much Dudley liked it, was the one thing she ever told him 'no' about. Oddly enough, it was also probably the healthiest thing he would ever willingly eat when he was younger.

Sure enough, when everyone made it to the kitchen/dining room, they saw _Harry_ pulling several breakfast casseroles out of the oven. Harry shook his head and went to help carry them to the table, along with Molly when she finally shook herself out of her shock.

The table was already full, bowls of scrambled eggs, plates of bacon (being carefully watched by Hedwig) and the casserole dishes being carefully set out. There were also bowls of cut up fruit; strawberries, blueberries, and cantaloupe. The only fruits Dudley would ever consider willingly eating. They were the only ones he liked, so he could safely say they were his favorites.

When everyone started filling their plates, _Harry_ made sure Hedwig had her own plate of bacon and that she knew not to touch the other plates, then started to slowly, at Sirius prompting, fill his own. The six Dursleys dug in, with the boys thanking _Harry_ (Dudley had to remind _Dudley_ ), but everyone else looked at the casserole curiously.

" _Harry,_ what is this?" Arthur finally asked curiously. Molly had never made anything like it, it didn't look like any kind of wizarding fare.

"It's breakfast casserole." Harry said, taking some himself. He may have made it before, but he was never allowed to eat any of it.

When the wizards still looked confused, he rolled his eyes. They really needed to get out into the Muggle world now and then. "I found it in one of the cooking magazines Aunt Petunia made me read when I was younger. It's shredded potato, cheddar cheese, ham, egg, and I added wild rice into the mix. Then you bake it."

"There's also some milk in it." _Harry_ added as he started eating his. He nodded in approval, he could see why Dudley liked it so much.

"Well, yeah, I was just mentioning the main ingredients." Harry told his younger self dryly. _Harry_ just shrugged.

Severus looked thoughtful when he started eating. He paused and pointed his fork at _Harry._ "Tonight, we are starting potions lessons. I expect you in my lab as soon as we are done reading." And he went back to his breakfast. Clearly, he gave up on Harry without even giving him a chance. With the proper grounding in the subject, the boy could potentially rival himself in the lab. And now that he knew Harry never read the intro books, it made his average performance in class that much more impressive.

 _Harry_ looked at him shyly and said, "Yes, sir." before he ducked his head to focus on his food.

" _Harry,_ when did you get up this morning?" Sirius finally asked his godson.

 _Harry_ looked slightly confused when he answered, "Same time I always do, 5:30. Aunt and Uncle like their breakfast to be on the table when they get up. Except for Dudley's birthdays, or if we have guests over... they sometimes let me sleep in then so they can get his presents out without me getting in the way." What was so odd about when he got up?

"Well, you don't have to anymore. You can sleep as long as you want, well, when your not at school." He amended. "At school you need to be up in time for breakfast and class. And you don't need to cook for us." Sirius said firmly. For a moment there, he'd been afraid the Silencing Charm he'd had around his bed hadn't held and he'd woken the kid up with his nightmares. It was bad enough he'd woken Moony up. But Moony was used to waking up to Sirius' nightmares.

 _Harry_ blinked at him, and he mentally sighed. This was obviously a topic that would need to be revisited several times before _Harry_ started to fully understand. From what he could tell, the kid knew that the way the Dursley's treated him was wrong, but at the same time, it was the only thing he knew.

Once everyone ate, with many compliments to the chef, they all moved back to the reading room, where Professor Flitwick set the book back up with the reading charm, making sure he started on the correct page. After a moment, he also shielded it so Harry couldn't change the voices around again.

Harry scoffed when he noticed, "Professor, a joke is only good once." He informed the tiny Charms Master. Flitwick raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. The other pranksters nodded in agreement with Harry, while Molly narrowed her eyes at her boys.

 **(Chapter nine, the Midnight Duel)**

"Harry James Potter!" Molly screeched. "You..."

"MOLLY/MOM!" Arthur, Bill, Sirius, and Remus all snapped, while Harry looked at her with wide eyes. She just yelled at him. She never yelled at him before. What just happened?

"While I don't agree with Molly going after you for it, I still hope you didn't do it. Wandering the castle at night is one thing, dueling other students is another." Remus said quietly to him. Harry grimaced at him.

"Don't worry, there was no duel." He said. Remus narrowed his eyes, but didn't say anything else. He knew that Harry had been wandering, and there was probably a duel planned, but it didn't happen for some reason or other.

 **(Harry had never believed... he met Draco Malfoy.)**

Draco flinched. From what he'd heard, Dudley used to be pretty bad. Harry lived with him, he had just met Draco that week and he already thought Draco was worse than his cousin at that age (his cousin had obviously grown up since). "I made a very bad impression, didn't I?" He asked his godfather quietly.

"You did what you thought your father would do, instead of what I taught you to do when meeting new people." Severus said just as quietly. "But, maybe some of the fault is mine, I didn't keep a close enough eye on you at school, and I wasn't around when you were growing up as much as either of us wanted."

Draco looked at Severus, startled, "No, you told me how to act if I wanted real friends, instead of followers, and I didn't follow your advice." Severus quirked a small smile at his godson, but didn't say anything else.

 **(Still, first year Gryffindors only... up with Malfoy much.)**

"Well, theoretically. Somehow, he always seems to find us in the hallways, and he's always coming over in the Great Hall for something or other." Hermione said reasonably.

Harry couldn't tell if she was teasing Draco, just pointing out the facts, or insinuating something. And if she was insinuating something, he couldn't figure out what it could be.

Draco turned red knowing she was right, he did go a little out of his way to find them sometimes. Mostly, as they got older, to find reason to taunt them some more, but when they were younger it was still with hopes of friendship. Those hopes died quickly.

 **(Or at least, they didn't... that made them all groan.)**

"Is it...?" Sirius started, but didn't finish it yet. He looked hopefully excited.

 **(Flying lessons would be... would be learning together.)**

"It is!" Sirius crowed. "I get to hear all about you learning to fly! If you can handle a beauty like that," he said, jerking his thumb to the corner where Harry's Firebolt hung on the rack that appeared after he was done polishing some of the scuff marks out, "at your age, then you have to be a natural!"

Harry grinned at him, "You know, Siri, while we're here, you could actually teach mini me how to fly." Harry reminded his godfather.

Sirius looked like he might actually pass out from joy, while _Harry_ looked excited at the idea too.

Remus grinned at his friends good mood, before he turned to ask, "Why on earth are Gryffindors and Slytherins always paired up in the most dangerous classes? I get that they're still young and not likely to cause as much damage, but when they get older..."

There was no answer from Dumbledore, the one who set the schedule. Just when the silence started to last long enough for the charm on the book to keep reading, he answered. "It is my hope, that by making them study together, the rivalry would hopefully abate."

Everyone stared at each other incredulously. "Albus, the classes have been like this for years, and it has not happened. Maybe it's time to try a different approach." Minerva said gently. Albus looked at her for a second before he nodded shortly.

 **("Typical," said Harry darkly... broomstick in front of Malfoy.")**

"That is not at all what happened." Ron said with a giant grin on his face.

"I wish I was there to actually see it, it sounded amazing." Neville said. He had heard about it when he got up the next morning after the incident with the Cerberus, needless to say, Harry had not shared details when he stopped by the Hospital Wing before Neville was released to return his Remembrall. Draco winced, he lied to his godfather about how exactly this happened, too. Although, his godfather had already called him out on that not long after the incident (having heard the real story in the halls), it was still a painful reminder.

Although, the fact that Harry was worried about making a fool of himself in front of him specifically, was both pleasing and troubling.

 **(He had been looking... more than anything else.)**

"I used to watch the birds around Privet Drive and wish I could just fly away like they could whenever trouble came too close." Harry said wistfully, he glanced at his broom, longing in his eyes. It had been a while since he flew...

"How about we go for a spin later tonight?" Charlie asked with a grin on his face.

"Yeah, I'm sure these rooms could provide a space big enough, we could have a game!" Ron said, he hadn't flown in a while, either.

Both red-heads were satisfied when Harry lit up, agreeing enthusiastically.

"While you guys have your game, me and the kiddo can have our lesson after dinner. That way, Severus will have you in the lab I'm sure he's already created, before dinner. Not that I'm really expecting to have to show you much..." Sirius said thoughtfully to _Harry_. "I expect you could probably fly circles around professionals the first time you got on a broom." Sirius said to Harry, who shrugged with a grin.

Sirius nodded, satisfied with the plans while he pulled _Harry_ into his side. He was already considering what broom he should have the Room give him for _Harry's_ first time, that the kid could remember, anyway.

 **("You don't know that... bet that's all talk.")**

Ron, Harry, and Hermione shared a grin when they remembered how Madam Hooch corrected Draco's grip.

Although, the boys both knew that grips were not necessarily universal on a broom, but rather what worked best and was most comfortable for you as an individual. It had still been fun watching him be told he'd been doing it wrong after listening to him brag all week.

 **(Malfoy certainly did talk about flying a lot.)**

"Along with all the other boys." Hermione said dryly, looking pointedly at Ron, who didn't even have the grace to look sheepish.

"But, 'Mione... QUIDDITCH!" He exclaimed.

While most of the boys nodded in agreement, including Charlie and the twins, the adults all laughed or rolled their eyes.

Harry just grinned.

Quidditch (sports in general, actually), was just one thing Hermione would never understand. Didn't seem to want to, either. She'd never been very athletic.

 **(He complained loudly about... the House Quidditch teams.)**

"Its not so much as first years not being allowed. Its mostly the fact that most first years have never even ridden a broom until they get to Hogwarts." Hermione started. "That, coupled with the rule against first years bringing their own brooms to school with them. I'm sure that if a first year actually tried out, and was good enough, they would get the position just like any other year." She finished with a shrug. Draco blinked at her.

"You don't count, Harry. Since you never actually tried out." Neville pointed out when he saw Harry opening his mouth. Harry's mouth shut with a very audible 'click', making a few people chuckle.

"Just so, Ms. Granger. Try not to spread that around though, I'm sure Poppy sees enough Quidditch injuries without adding a bunch of first years trying out for the teams when they can't even fly decently." Minerva said, glancing between the two Hermione's. Both of the girls nodded and said, "Yes, ma'am."

 **(and told long, boastful... escaping Muggles in helicopters.)**

"Do you even know what a helicopter is?" Hermione asked, amused. She hadn't heard about any of this.

"Yes?" Draco asked more than stated. "Its a Muggle flying machine. The one with the blades at the top that spin really fast. I still don't know how its possible though." He finished with a shrug, trying to avoid his godfather's piercing stare.

Severus sighed quietly before he turned to _Draco_. "Don't let your father see the Muggle magazines, and try not to leave them at my place." He muttered just loud enough for the boy to hear. He had wondered where that magazine came from, it had the latest models of helicopters and planes. Unfortunately, Lucius saw it and had a fit. He actually forbade Severus from seeing Draco for several months, even cancelling the potions harvesting trip he'd been planning with the boy. You would have thought that Severus had just been revealed as a spy (and traitor to the Dark Lord), not that he was in possession of a Muggle magazine. It wasn't even his magazine, now he knew it to be Draco's.

 **(He wasn't the only one... countryside on his broomstick.)**

"That was the most believable story we were told." Hermione muttered.

"Yeah, most of the wizard raised had some pretty wild stories." Harry said with a grin, staring at Ron out of the corner of his eye. Neville looked vaguely amused, he was pretty much the only wizard-raised boy who didn't have some wild story.

 **(Even Ron)**

Ron turned red in embarrassment before he blanched when he remembered just what he said, and he glanced fearfully at his brother.

 **(would tell anyone who'd... on Charlie's old broom.)**

Charlie's eyes widened. Hermione didn't notice that, nor did she notice how both Rons was glancing fearfully at his older brother, who was slowly turning red with anger, while his other siblings looked warily between the two brothers.

"Do you even know what a hang glider is?" She'd been surprised enough that Draco knew what helicopters were, although she would have to get him some books later on that went into the mechanics of it.

"What were you doing on my broom?" Charlie asked dangerously, before Ron could get a chance to answer Hermione (he did have a slight idea what it was, thank you very much).

Ron gulped and sunk into the couch, "Uh, it was just the once?" He tried while his younger self nodded frantically in agreement, but knew that Charlie was very protective of his broom, he had worked hard to earn the money for it, a decent broom, after all. Even going so far as to get a Muggle job in the village nearby, and then taking his earnings from that to Gringotts to exchange it for Galleons.

"Just the..." Charlie sputtered for a moment while his parents exchanged looks behind everyone's backs. "You know how hard I worked to earn enough money for that broom, I specifically said when I brought it home, that nobody else was to even touch it! That wasn't a family broom, that was MY broom!" Molly got up and gently pulled him out of his seat and steered him out of the room, still ranting about disobedient little brothers who had no respect for another's belongings, or another's wishes regarding their belongings.

The majority of the room, especially Draco and Severus, were staring, slightly wide-eyed, at the door where Charlie and Molly had disappeared through.

Arthur cleared his throat after a moment, while the rest of the Weasley's stared at the youngest boy with raised eyebrows. "Ron, you knew Charlie's broom was off limits." He scolded lightly, both boys were still trying to hide in the couch cushions. "Let's just continue reading." He suggested tiredly.

 **(Everyone from wizarding families... big argument with Dean Thomas,)**

"I remember that," Neville said fondly. "I honestly thought he was going to kill you." Everyone else looked startled.

"Yeah... it was a good thing the Head Boy broke it up when he did..." Harry said in agreement.

"What exactly did Ron say?" Hermione asked, curious. This was something else she hadn't heard, which was shocking considering this was Hogwarts they were talking about. Gryffindor Tower in particular. If the school thought the Hogwarts grapevine was good, that was nothing on how the gossip flew around the Tower.

"He bad-mouthed soccer."

Hermione's jaw dropped in shock and horror. She may not like sports much, but even she followed soccer, to a point. She'd never be as fanatic about it as others (Dean Thomas) were. She turned to face Ron. Then, abruptly, she turned to face her younger self, who was also staring at the red-head in shock, and the two shared a determined nod before turning their gazes on the youngest redhead in the room.

They had a lot of work to do. The red-heads survival might depend on their success.

 **(who shared their dormitory... no one was allowed to fly.)**

Hermione's head hit the cushion behind her. "Ronald," She began, in her 'I've told you this a thousand times' voice, "Muggles CAN'T fly. It's not that they aren't allowed to fly, it's that they CAN'T. Because to fly like that, requires magic. Which is something that MUGGLES DON'T HAVE." She said forcefully.

Harry stifled his grin, no matter how often he and Hermione reminded him, he always seemed to forget that the things he grew up with, magic and brooms and whatnot, required you to have magic. And that you couldn't use them if you didn't have magic... Muggles didn't even know magic existed, so how on earth were they supposed to have all this stuff that required magic?

Ron just turned red while his brothers snickered.

 **(Harry had caught Ron... to make the players move.)**

Hermione face-palmed and ran her hand down her face, exasperated, but she didn't say anything this time.

 **(Neville had never been on... with both feet on the ground.)**

"Sorry, mate." Harry said, wincing.

Neville shrugged. "Nah, don't worry about it. It's true, after all. I was pretty clumsy back then."

Hermione cocked her head at him. "Yeah... you have really grown into yourself, haven't you?" She asked fondly, making Neville turn bright red.

 **(Hermione Granger was almost... book- not that she hadn't tried.)**

"Ugh, she was even driving the older years insane, as if none of us knew how to fly! She had to be rescued from quoting _Quidditch Through the Ages_ to Oliver." Fred said seriously. Hermione turned bright red when he said how she was driving everyone crazy.

Harry's eyes widened and he reached out and grabbed her arm, squeezing it to reassure himself that she was here, safe. And far, far away from an Oliver Wood on a Quidditch rant.

"Woah, that's one of the worst mistakes you can make." Neville said, eyes wide and jaw dropped.

The Quidditch players who played under the former captain nodded seriously. They remembered well the amount of times they got to class late or spent hours sitting in the locker room early in the morning, just listening to Oliver talk about Quidditch plays, or point differences, or various strategies he wanted them to use the next day during the game.

"Why is that so bad?" Hermione asked, she hadn't seen any of it happening, she was usually too into her book to pay attention to the boys.

"It would be the equivalent of when Ron was bad mouthing soccer. Only, instead of an argument..." Harry said, trailing off when her eyes widened in realization and horror. She would have been treated to hours upon hours of Oliver Wood ranting about Quidditch, going on about how she didn't know (how could she not know?!), telling her every single intricate detail about the rules and how a game generally went, along with every single game statistic to ever exist.

Minerva listened to all this, slightly worried. Had she given Oliver a little too much free rein as Captain? Maybe she should have kept a better eye on the boy. She included it in the list for her younger self to take care of.

 **(At breakfast on Thursday she... called _Quidditch Through the Ages.)_**

Sirius groaned and turned to his younger godson. "Don't listen to any of that. The tips in that book are next to worthless. Besides, flying isn't something you can't be told, it has to be shown." He said cheerfully, still excited over the chance to go flying with his _godson_. The boy nodded his understanding, although his eyes held some confusion, while Hermione groaned and hid her face behind her hands and her hair.

It may have calmed down over the years, but it was still nice and bushy.

Harry and Ron laughed and wrapped their arms around her from where they sat sandwiching her between them.

 **(Neville was hanging on to... by the arrival of the mail.)**

Hermione turned red in embarrassment, although this time she also looked a little hurt. Harry and Ron just squeezed her tighter and leaned over to whisper in her ear while the book continued.

Sirius bit his lip slightly, before glancing at Neville. "You know... if you would relax, and stop thinking so much about it... you will find flying to be so much more enjoyable, and much less nerve-racking." He said gently.

"Not to mention, you will have less chance of falling off, since you won't be so tense." Remus added, somewhat sheepishly. It had taken a while for James and Sirius to get that same information into his thick skull. He'd been like Neville, and he was terrified. Sirius and James hadn't let him stay that way for long, though.

 **(Harry hadn't had a single letter since Hagrid's note,)**

Remus frowned. "I sent at least two letters after you got to school." He turned to Harry. "You never got either of them?" Harry shook his head. He sat back and frowned, before he looked at Dumbledore suspiciously.

 **(something that Malfoy had been quick to notice, of course.)**

"And there it is again." Hermione muttered.

Severus tilted his head to the side. "You know, they have a point. You have spent an unusual amount of time watching Mr. Potter over the years." He said quietly to his godson with a raised eyebrow. Draco just turned red and didn't answer. Severus sighed softly.

 **(Malfoy's eagle owl was...** **seemed to be full of white smoke.)**

"Huh." Sirius said. "Your mother had one of those. She said it was both very helpful, and at the same time extremely unhelpful."

"Tell me about it." Neville grumbled. "It would be so much better if it could tell you what you've forgotten too!" He exclaimed. He then sat back and started grumbling about 'stupid, unhelpful balls'. Although, he was pleased to hear that his mother had one, too.

"You remembered eventually, though." Harry said, trying to comfort his friend. Neville just gave him a dark look and went back to his grumbling.

 **("It's a Remembrall!" he explained... had suddenly glowed scarlet,)**

"Don't worry, Alice's Remembrall was always red." Remus reassured Neville, who beamed at hearing this information about his mother. His gran never really talked about her much... She never really talked about either of his parents much, it was too painful. Occasionally, she would mention something when she thought Neville wasn't living up to her expectations about them, but that was about it.

 **("... you've forgotten something...")**

"Now if only it would tell you what you've forgotten..." Neville grumbled some more.

"Why don't you try and do something about that?" Harry asked him. "I'm sure the Twins would be able to help you out if you want, they're good at inventing stuff." He pointed out.

Neville stared at Harry and blinked for a moment. "Harry... you're a genius!" He finally burst out. The next anybody knew, he had a Remembrall in his hand and there was a piece of parchment on the table in front of him. Fred and George glanced at each other before they got up to sit nearby so he could ask them whatever questions he needed without disturbing the rest of the group.

 **(Neville was trying to remember... the Remembrall out of his hand.)**

"Why were you passing the Gryffindor table? The Gryffindor and Slytherin tables are on opposite sides of the room, that way the other two houses serve as a barrier." Ginny asked.

Again, Draco turned red, but refused to answer, causing his godfather to look at him in concern. _Draco_ turned red, too. He had a feeling he knew, but he wasn't saying anything, either.

 **(Harry and Ron jumped to... a reason to fight Malfoy,)**

Both boys ignored the stern looks they got for that. In their opinion, it was highly justified, Malfoy just would not leave them alone! No matter where they went, it seemed he was always there, he was always taunting, always picking. They had been getting sick and tired of it, so yes. They had been waiting for an opportunity to make him back off.

If the teachers didn't like it, then tough.

 **(but Professor McGonagall, who... school, was there in a flash.)**

"Aw man, couldn't you have waited?" Sirius whined a bit and pouted. Although, he knew that he was partially, James could take some of the blame as well, to blame for her fast response time.

"No, I could not have." Minerva said, eyeing Sirius sternly. "And I was already watching, after all, Mr. Malfoy had no reason that I could see to be over there." She said with a small shrug.

 **("What's going on?"**

 **"Malfoy's...** **back on the table.**

 **"Just looking.")**

Minerva treated him to a _look_. "I have heard that excuse too often to believe that, Mr. Malfoy." She said with a raised eyebrow, causing him to look somewhat sheepish. Sirius shifted, slightly uncomfortable, and avoided looking at Severus, who glared at him. Remus just sighed.

 **(he said, and he sloped... and Goyle behind him.)**

"Like always." Harry, Ron, and Hermione said together.

"Is there ever a time when they aren't behind you?" Neville asked Draco.

He sighed and shook his head. "The only time they aren't is when I'm in the bathroom, or I leave them in the kitchens for a while." He considered for a moment. "Or when I'm home, but... that's home. So, I don't think it really counts."

Ginny made a face. "Do you have any privacy?" She asked. He shook his head. Now all the Weasley's made a face. Coming from such a big family, in such a small house, they all knew just how valuable just a little privacy can be, they all had their own little spot somewhere on the property that was _their_ space for just this purpose. If they needed to get away, they went there for a little time to themselves.

 **(At three-thirty that afternoon... for their first flying lesson.)**

Sirius sat forward in his seat, now that the good part of the chapter was here. This was what he'd been waiting for since the chapter started, it certainly took long enough for the book to get this far. Remus shook his head at his pack-mates enthusiasm.

It was good to have the old, pre-Azkaban Sirius back. Even if it was mostly an act for his _godson_.

 **(It was a clear, breezy day, and... swaying darkly in the distance.)**

"Whoa." Ginny muttered. "This book is very descriptive. Whoever wrote it in the future is very good at writing." She said, and a few others nodded in agreement. They hadn't noticed that earlier in the book, probably because there was so much other stuff going on that they were paying more attention to.

 **(The Slytherins were already... in neat lines on the ground.)**

"Those things stopped being brooms years ago." All the Weasley's and Harry muttered. And it was true, those things weren't brooms anymore, they were death-traps. Draco nodded in agreement.

 **(Harry had heard Fred and... always flew slightly to the left.)**

"They should have been replaced years ago." Most of the students muttered, glaring slightly at their teachers.

"We know." The four Heads of House all said in unison. "Madam Hooch has tried to order new brooms for years," Minerva continued.

"Every year he denies her request, stating an insufficient budget." Pomona said, gesturing to Dumbledore, who looked absolutely unconcerned.

"So, we went to the Board of Governors, they cleared up some money specifically for new brooms, and none of us know where that money actually went." Filius finished.

"All of us staff have tried to put aside some of our own budgets, but that money usually disappears somewhere else too." Severus finished. The Twins looked at the teachers in slight awe.

"... We will be having a long discussion about this later." Sirius said to Dumbledore, bewildered and a little angry. He would control himself, since his godson was in the room, and not yell at the Headmaster when the younger children were in earshot. They didn't need that image of their Headmaster before school even started. He could control himself sometimes.

"Something I've been wondering for years, is why none of the really rich parents whose families have gone to Hogwarts for generations, and now have children there, don't do something about it and donate some new brooms. If Malfoy Sr can donate brooms just for Slytherin team, then why can't they donate some decent brooms for the school?" Harry asked suddenly.

Sirius snorted. "Where do you think the current school brooms came from?" He asked.

"Huh?"

"The current school brooms were donated in our fifth year by one Charlus Potter. He got tired of reading reports during Governor meetings about students going to the Hospital Wing because the brooms were old and unsafe." Remus explained, and Harry blinked at him.

"Why don't any of the current Board members do that?" Fred asked his brother, who shrugged. He honestly had no words.

"I think it's time for another donation from the Potter family." Harry muttered.

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Actually, I think it's the Black families turn." He said simply, bought and donated by Harry's grandfather or not, he didn't want him riding those old things. They sounded very unsafe. The teachers looked at him gratefully, and Poppy looked like she might burst into tears of joy.

 **(Their teacher, Madam Hooch... yellow eyes like a hawk.)**

"She's been there forever." Everybody jumped when they heard Charlie's voice. He and Molly had come in while everyone was listening to the explanation about where the current brooms came from, and stayed by the door.

Everyone could see that Charlie was much calmer, although Ron still shrunk back when he got a dark look in his direction.

 **("Well, what are you all...** **stuck out at odd angles.)**

Sirius grimaced. "Oh, yes. Definitely getting the school new brooms." He muttered, and started looking through the catalogue that appeared. He wanted to familiarize himself with what models they'd come out with since he'd gone to prison. That way, when Moody got him out, he would already have something in mind, and he could make the donation first thing, well... first thing after getting _Harry_ away from his awful relatives.

Obviously he couldn't get Nimbus 2000's (unfortunately). Not for a bunch of first years to learn on, but it did need to be a good model.

He was definitely getting one for _Harry,_ though. He was pretty sure the kid could handle it just fine.

 **("Stick out your right... the front, "and said 'Up!'")**

Sirius' head snapped up and he set the catalogue aside for a bit so he could focus more on hearing about his godson's first time (that he would remember, anyway) on a broom. Remus noticed and chuckled.

 **("UP!" everyone shouted.**

 **Harry's broom jumped into his hand at once,)**

Sirius cheered. "That means he's made for being in the air!" He grinned. Harry grinned too, it was good to see his dogfather in a good mood like this.

 **(but it was one of the few... tell when you were afraid,)**

"Well," Filius started. "When brooms are made, the makers cast a series of intent-based charms through the entire process, and intent-based runes are carved on the inside of the wood itself, so... Yes, I suppose, in a sense, they can tell when you are afraid. Seeing as they operate based on their riders intent to the best of their capability." He explained.

Both Hermione's looked excited by the new information, but Harry and Pomona stopped them before they could start firing off a million and one questions, they appreciated the girls love for knowledge, but there were times where they just needed to be patient and wait before asking their questions.

And when they were in the middle of the reading, was probably not the best time to start firing off questions, they could wait until they were done for the day, just like Hermione told Arthur to do for all the Muggle things that were in the books.

Although, she wasn't the only one that looked interested, although all the Quidditch nuts in the room already knew that information, of course they did, they were Quidditch nuts!

 **(thought Harry; there was a... to keep his feet on the ground.)**

Hermione winced. "Yeah, me too." She actually looked a little green at the thought of flying right now. She really did NOT like heights.

 **(Madam Hooch then showed... been doing it wrong for years.)**

"Which is completely wrong, there is no right or wrong grip on a broom, it's whatever is comfortable for you." Draco grumbled. The Weasley's nodded in agreement. Severus hid a smile and patted him consolingly on the back. Draco shot him a glare, but there was no heat behind it.

"She tries to teach a uniform grip to the first years, mostly to make it easier for the Muggleborns who haven't yet developed their seats. Over time, obviously, they will develop something that is more comfortable for them, but she provides a good starting base. I don't know why she would say you'd been doing it wrong for years, though." Pomona explained.

 **("Now, when I blow my..** **.**

 **"Come back, boy!" she shouted,)**

"She kind of sounded like my old recess monitor when we were younger. She'd just yell, and never do anything." Harry said with a shrug.

Dudley laughed and nodded his agreement, while Remus tilted his head before saying that he remembered her, "To be honest, she kind of creeped me out a little, she would never leave me alone. Always asking me to take her out to dinner sometime, she never took no for an answer, she showed up at my apartment once... " He shuddered. Sirius patted him consolingly on the back.

 **(but Neville was rising straight... bottle- twelve feet- twenty feet.)**

"That's not supposed to happen."

"No matter how hard you kicked off before you were supposed to." Sirius and Remus both said, their eyes wide.

Minerva's eyes were wide, too. She knew Neville got hurt, and she knew those brooms weren't the safest, but she didn't know this happened! All she knew was that Neville had fallen off and the broom left for the Forest.

 **(Harry saw his scared white... sideways off the broom and-)**

A few people winced, knowing what was about to happen. Luna and Ginny both grabbed one of Neville's hands, squeezing them in comfort.

 **(WHAM- a thud and... on the grass in a heap.)**

Nearly everyone in the room winced, and Molly eyed Neville like she was about to go over and start fussing, but thankfully, Arthur kept ahold of her.

"Were you alright?" The Quidditch players that weren't there asked in unison, eyeing Neville in concern.

He grimaced, but nodded. "Just broke my wrist. Nothing Madam Pomfrey couldn't handle." He said with a brief smile.

"I imagine this didn't help your fear of flying..." Sirius said with a wry grin. Neville smiled sheepishly and shook his head.

 **(His broomstick was still... forbidden forest and out of sight.)**

"What is with enchanted items like that and disappearing into the forest?" Ron muttered to the other two. Everyone looked over to follow their conversation.

Harry shrugged while Hermione looked thoughtful. "Maybe... maybe it's because of all the ambient magic in the forest? It's an ancient place, it's close to a school practically oozing magical energy from all the students over the years, and the land Hogwarts and the forest sits on is right over some crisscrossing ley-lines." She said.

When Ron looked at her odd for knowing about the ley-lines, she huffed. "It's in Hogwarts, A History. And, I talked to Godric. The Founders connected the Ward Stone to the ley-lines under the school. That way, all the Wards would need over the centuries would be occasional maintenance. They wouldn't need to be constantly powered, of course, in order for them to not drain the ley-lines dry, Godric said that Rowena Ravenclaw managed to fix it so that the wards ALSO got some of their power from the magical excess coming from all the students. However because of the sheer amount of students over the centuries, added to the ley-line, not all of that excess actually goes into the wards."

"Which is why I've always said that the castle is sentient." Harry piped up, reminding his two friends of ongoing theory. A theory that Hermione had, for years, dismissed as being impossible. She blinked at him, then flushed slightly as she realized that she had just proved Harry's point.

"Right, so... anyway. All that magic in the air, in the ground, in the trees themselves... for an enchanted object like out-of-control brooms and enchanted cars, the forest must seem like paradise." She finished.

"An excellent theory, Miss Granger, one that I'm sure you will enjoy researching once we are done with the reading." Dumbledore said, slightly impressed. To be honest, he really hadn't been expecting the girl to be this smart, she was Muggleborn, after all, and Muggleborn didn't usually show such knowledge about the magical world. Ever. No matter how books they read, but then again... maybe they were just reading the wrong books. He got a thoughtful look on his face, completely missing the looks some of the others were giving him, like they weren't quite sure how to react to his assessment of her theory. Maybe he should go back and talk to Godric again... it had been a while. And perhaps call a meeting with the ghosts and older portraits... see if Godric knew anything about if the other three had portraits as well. Get a historian in there to write a, perhaps more accurate an unbiased version of events, and perhaps a new class wouldn't be remiss, either. One that focused completely on the history of the school, instead of wizards on a whole...

He thought back to the editions of _Hogwarts, A History_ that some of the others had been given, and mentally asked the room for his own. He figured he might as well take advantage of that unique feature of this wonderful room, especially since these books were something that not even he owned, nor were they all even in the Headmaster's library, despite the fact that it had been added to for centuries by every Headmaster in the history of Hogwarts. He glanced towards the letter Severus was writing to his younger self and grimaced. Perhaps if he could also bring some rare ingredients back with him as well...

Yes, those might make a good peace offering. He would take care of that later though, in private.

 **(Madam Hooch was bending over Neville, her face as white as his.)**

"I had to give her a Calming Draught after that, for a moment there, she honestly thought the fall had killed Neville, and then she was so relieved to find him with nothing more severe than a broken wrist..." Poppy explained.

Sirius winced and started going through the catalogue again. This time he started marking a few that looked like they might be good options for a bunch of first years to ride on. He also marked a few that would be good to be set aside just for students to use on the Quidditch pitch. Either for official games if something happened to their broom, or just a quick pick-up game if they didn't have their broom at school with them. He knew that most students didn't bother bringing their own broom with them unless they were on the team. Less chance of something happening to it, that way. Brooms could be expensive, after all.

 **("Broken wrist," Harry heard...** **say 'Quidditch.' Come on, dear.")**

"Did she just leave a bunch of eleven year olds outside with brooms and instructions to NOT use them?" Filius asked blankly.

"Forget their age, she just left a group of eleven year old GRYFFINDOR and SLYTHERIN students outside with no supervision." Severus corrected, his blinking eyes the only sign of shock.

"That's just asking for trouble." Pomona said, while Minerva sighed. Maybe she should have let the students explain what happened, after all, instead of brushing them off like she did. Of course, it wouldn't have changed her decision of putting Harry on the team, but she would at the very least have known if somebody needed punished, she probably let somebody get away with starting all the trouble in the first place. But, when she got outside, Harry was the only one in the air.

"I'm sure the students behaved." Albus said placatingly.

The teachers all looked at him blankly. "Albus... I think you've spent too much time up in that office of yours, and not nearly enough time with the students." Minerva said. The old man seemed to have forgotten how children and teenagers could be sometimes.

 **(Neville, his face tear-streaked... who had her arm around him.)**

"Wait, was something wrong with your leg, too?" Harry asked in concern. He hadn't really noticed the hobble the first time.

Neville nodded his head. "Sprained my ankle." A few people winced, that wasn't pleasant.

 **(No sooner were they out of earshot than Malfoy burst into laughter.)**

Nearly all the Lions in the room shot Draco a dirty look while Severus shot both his godsons a warning look, they knew full well that he would not tolerate bullying behavior of any kind. Reading this now though... he had to wonder just how much his godson had gotten away with over the years. The Draco in question sank back into his seat and shot Neville an apologetic look.

Neville himself shrunk down in himself a little before he seemed to catch himself and sent a glare of his own until he saw the apology in his eyes, which he accepted with narrowed eyes.

 **("Did you see his face, the great lump?"**

 **The other Slytherins joined in.)**

Severus' look darkened. "And they wonder why the rest of the school labels them as such." He muttered, then added it to his letter, making sure that younger him knew to keep a better eye out. Oh, he made sure his Snakes knew how he expected them to behave, but it appeared that when he wasn't around, they went and did the exact opposite.

 **("Shut up, Malfoy," snapped Parvati Patil...** **like fat little crybabies, Parvati.")**

"Wait a minute, those two hate each other. So... why are they on a first name basis?" Hermione asked, tilting her head to the side.

"The Patils father is the ambassador from Magical India. So, they have to go to a lot of Ministry and social functions, they don't just stick with the Light or Dark families, either. As a foreign official, he has to go to them all as a neutral party. The Patil twins would have had to go along to a lot of them, so they already knew pretty much all the purebloods at school before they got there." Neville said before Draco could even open his mouth to answer.

Draco nodded. "Parvati and Pansy used to be pretty close, actually... when we were younger. They got into a huge fight at the Parkinson's summer ball just before Hogwarts started, though. Hated each other ever since." He added.

 **("Look!" said Malfoy, darting...** **talking to watch.**

 **Malfoy smiled nastily.)**

Severus's eyes narrowed. "You better not be thinking of doing anything... unSlytherin-like." He whispered softly in his godsons ear. Draco went pale.

 **("I think I'll leave it somewhere... find- how about- up a tree?")**

Severus sighed and pinched his nose. Honestly... he tormented Harry Potter all those years for being just like his father, where at this moment in the book, his own godson was behaving more like James Potter than Harry Potter ever did.

Draco got a few more looks for this, but nobody said anything.

They wanted to see what Harry would do about the situation.

 **("Give it _here_!" Harry yelled, but... been lying, he _could_ fly well.)**

Both Draco's puffed up, of course they could fly well. They were Malfoy's, they'd been flying all their lives. When they were younger, and their mother had finally relented that they were old enough to not fall and die (it took, much, much convincing), their father hired a professional Quidditch player on the Irish team to come out and teach him.

So, of course he could fly well.

"Not nearly as good as our Harry, though." Ron remarked to the rest of the Gryffindor's who'd ever seen Harry fly or play. They nodded in agreement. Draco gave them a sulky glare. Although he would forever deny the sulky bit.

"Hey, Bill, remember that one time when we were trying to teach Ron how to fly?" Charlie suddenly asked his older brother, out of nowhere. Ron's eyes went wide and he turned bright red.

"Oh, yeah... wasn't he hovering for only a few seconds when...?" Ron was suddenly standing behind them, with his hands covering their mouths, glaring. His face was a bright red that really couldn't have been healthy, and he was breathing a little hard, probably because of the effort involved in getting behind his brothers to stop them from doing their duty as older brothers. And that, was to embarrass the younger siblings.

Both men raised their hands in a surrender position, and when Ron slowly lifted his hands away, they had the biggest smirks on their faces. Draco was a little disappointed. He wanted to hear what was so embarrassing, and at the same time he was jealous. He suddenly wished he had an older sibling that could teach him things.

Having lessons from a famous Quidditch player was good and all, but at the same time...

 **(Hovering level with the topmost... it, Potter!"**

 **Harry grabbed his broom.)**

Sirius perked up, they were about to hear of his pups first time on a broom, he could tell. Oh, yes, it would get him in trouble if one of the other kids told a teacher, or a teacher overheard, or even if a teacher saw... but at the same time he was doing it to help a friend.

Maybe not the stance that others would want him to take, as a responsible adult (yeah right), but he knew that his pup would never think of getting an adults help first, before he tried to just fix it himself.

 **(" _No_!" shouted Hermione Granger... you'll get us all into trouble.")**

"Hermione, the only way the rest of you will get in trouble is if you go up there in the air with him." Charlie pointed out. Even Percy looked surprised at this point of view Hermione had.

She pinked up. "When I was at primary school, my teacher worked based on a policy of, if one of them is guilty, ALL of them are guilty, because all of them should have stopped the one and didn't." She explained quietly. A few of the people gave her funny looks, although a couple of the teachers looked like one mystery had been solved.

They had always wondered why she seemed to be of the opinion sometimes that if one person got into trouble, they all would. Of course, that had gotten better since her and the boys became practically inseparable, but... she had her moments where that attitude would come back.

Pomona pulled _Hermione's_ attention to her from where they were sharing a couch and whispered, "That's also not the best way to make your peers like having you around. If you want to begin making friends, I would start with not spouting rules all the time, and relax a little." She gave the younger girl a smile. _Hermione_ had told her the night before that she didn't really have any friends growing up, because none of the other kids wanted to be near her. They always called her a teacher's pet, because she did well on her work, (so well that she was actually advanced a grade and would have been again if it weren't for her Hogwarts letter coming and the fact that her parents hadn't wanted her to be totally cut off from kids her age) and obeyed all the rules, making sure the others knew that they were to do the same.

 _Hermione_ looked confused about something, "But aren't rules important? They are there for a reason."

"Yes, they are. However... and, as a teacher, I probably shouldn't be saying this, mind, but I have found that rules aren't concrete. There will always be circumstances that make breaking a rule necessary. Also, it's not called your teenage years if a few rules aren't broken, it's part of growing up. Yes, you shouldn't just let them get away with just doing whatever they want, but at the same time, you aren't their mother, or a teacher. It's not your job to reinforce the rules, obey them, yes. When necessary, remind others that the rule is there, sure. But not to be their boss. It can be a balancing act."

 **(Harry ignored her.)**

"You do that a lot." Hermione muttered beside him. He gave her a crooked grin that he knew she just couldn't really stay mad at, and she scowled, before relenting.

 **(Blood was pounding in his ears... this was easy, this was _wonderful_.)**

"You have always looked more at ease and happier in the air." Hermione murmured. Harry grinned, then glanced at his Firebolt in longing. He couldn't wait until that pick-up game tonight.

 **(He pulled his broomstick up...** **midair. Malfoy looked stunned.)**

"I wasn't really expecting you to be able to follow me." Said Malfoy said with a small shrug. Harry snorted, but didn't say anything.

 **("Give it here," Harry called, "or I'll knock you off that broom!")**

"I wouldn't have really knocked him off!" Harry said hastily, throwing his hands up in surrender, when people turned stern eyes and glares (Severus) his way. "Maybe if we were a lot closer to the ground... give him a bruise at worse. That height could have killed him." That seemed to placate some people, although Severus continued to give him a somewhat dark look.

And if either of the Draco's were uncomfortable with how tight his grip on their knees was, they didn't say anything.

 **("Oh, yeah?" said Malfoy, trying to sneer, but looking worried.)**

"I couldn't decide if you were serious or not about actually trying to knock me off." Draco said with a shrug. Severus grip on his knee tightened, if it was possible.

 **(Harry knew, somehow, what to do.)**

"It's instinct." Sirius said in awed realization.

"You know how rare it is to find an instinctual flyer." Charlie asked the room. A few of them nodded in agreement. It was very rare.

"Huh?" Harry asked, sounding very confused about what they were talking about.

"Flying for you is instinct. It's rare for that to happen, really. People in general are meant to stay on the ground." Hermione said. "Or, maybe it's not actually all that rare, it's just not mentioned." She added with a shrug.

"There is a recent theory in the Transfiguration community, that instinctual flyers would have a bird animagus. Unfortunately, nobodies been able to really test that theory, as Ms. Granger said, it's not really mentioned. Plus, those that are known to be instinctual flyers, aren't interested in being an Animagus, or they physically don't have the ability to be one." Minerva said, looking interested.

"Another theory is that they have creature blood in their family tree. One of the ones capable of flight, of course. Of course, anymore nobody's going to admit to having creature blood in their family, so there's no way to really prove that, either." Remus pointed out.

 **(He leaned forward and grasped... people below were clapping.)**

"It was very impressive, especially since that was his first time even _touching_ a broom. Well," Ron glanced at Sirius and Remus and thought about the torn picture they found in Sirius's bedroom at Grimmauld Place. "That he remembered, anyway."

"I was so shocked by him coming towards me that I barely remembered to move." Draco mumbled. He didn't want to admit to being terr- shocked. Yes, he was shocked. Severus squeezed his knee again.

 **("No Crabbe and Goyle up here to save your neck, Malfoy," Harry called.)**

Draco sighed and whined. "It's not my fault! They won't leave me alone, their fathers ordered them to follow everywhere!" He huffed. "It doesn't help any that my father likes to threaten theirs that if they don't behave themselves, they will be turned in for being Death Eaters." He grumbled. Honestly, when they were younger, it was less annoying. Back then it was kind of cool to have bodyguards like that. But... it got old really fast as they older.

A few people snickered, not even bothering in the least to look sympathetic.

 **(The same thought seemed to have struck Malfoy.)**

Draco looked uncomfortable for a moment before he wiped his face clear of emotion and simply looked away instead. At that moment, the thought that he was without his bodyguards and high in the air with somebody that was _very_ good on a broom who had just threatened to knock him off of it... It hadn't been a good thought. Of course, now he would have been celebrating the fact that they weren't there.

 **("Catch it if you can, then!"... streaked back toward the ground.)**

Minerva's eyes widened while Severus looked warningly at his _godson_. He already knew all about this one, he'd gotten told one story by Draco, and then overheard the real story from the rest of the Slytherin's when they were talking about it in the Common Room.

"That's willful property damage of another student! How dare you!" She said, shocked. "You're lucky we're not in school right now, Mr. Malfoy, or it would be points and several detentions, and YOU would have been paying for a new one for Mr. Longbottom had it broken." She said, threateningly. It was lucky she already knew it hadn't been broken. She'd seen the thing in Harry's hand afterward afterall. Draco's eyes widened, and he looked to his godfather for help.

"Do not worry, Minerva, I already handled the punishment for this incident." He said softly. She pursed her lips and watched him for a moment, before she nodded her understanding, and turned back to the book.

 **(Harry saw, as though in slow motion,)**

"Slow motion, huh? That's about how the very best of Seekers say it is when they see the Snitch." Charlie muttered, looking excited for some reason. He wanted to hear about this. If the kid pulled this off... he couldn't wait until the game they had planned for tonight. He wanted to play against this kid.

 **(the ball rise up in the... was gathering speed in a steep dive,)**

By this point, everyone except for those that were there and saw it and Molly, were on the edge of their seats, wanting to hear this. Sirius was holding and lightly shaking _Harry's_ shoulders in his excitement, while Harry snickered at the discomfort on his younger self's face. Molly, however, was too sure and terrified that they were about to hear about Harry crashing and breaking his neck. Arthur was having to restrain her from going over and coddling the boy.

Charlie, in particular, was on the edge of his seat, and practically vibrating with excitement. It was one thing to watch the boy, who had years of experience flying, outfly a dragon. Hearing about him going into a dive like this, while on a broken down old school broom, chasing something, when it was his first time _touching_ a broom, was something else.

 **(racing the ball- wind whistled... clutched safely in his fist.)**

While everyone else in the room cheered and congratulated Harry on a safe landing and superb flying, Charlie's mouth dropped open in disbelief. If he had pulled up just a few seconds sooner, and if he hadn't been chasing something, that would have been a perfect Wronski Feint. On his first time on a broom.

He looked at Harry in awe, even while his mother practically collapsed in relief that Harry was alright, and muttered threats under her breath about how the boy had better be grateful he didn't get hurt, and that she didn't know about this happening back then. She thought she was going to have a heart-attack just listening to this.

"No wonder..."

"... you got put on the team." Fred and George said, looking at him in awe. Charlie nodded his agreement with them, still staring at Harry in awe. He doubted if he could have done that at that age, even though he'd been flying practically all his life.

Sirius simply pulled his boys into side hugs, and squeezed. Harry smiled from his position, and _Harry_ tried not to show too much shock (despite the care and affection Sirius had been showing him the past few days).

 _Harry_ cocked his head to the side and reached for his sketchbook, he wanted to see if he could draw that scene.

 **("HARRY POTTER!")**

Everyone who ever had her as a teacher, flinched instinctively. She, of course, noticed, and smirked smugly. Oh, yes. Even years later, all her students new not to cross her.

 **(His heart sank faster than he'd just dived.)**

"And he dived pretty fast." Fred muttered to his twin.

"Especially considering he was on an old school broom." George said in agreement.

"Of course, it's nothing compared to what I can do with my Firebolt." Harry said with a smirk, making everybody cast longing glances at the mentioned broom, sitting proudly on its stand by the wall.

Ron suddenly got an idea, he would wait until later though to do it.

 **(Professor McGonagall was running...** **might have broken you neck-")**

Sirius winced. "Oh, you terrified her, pup. When she can hardly get a sentence out, she's usually either so angry she can't think, or she was terrified for your safety." He said quietly. Harry winced too, and sent her a sheepish grin.

Which she gave him a stern look for before her face softened. When she got out there, it had been all she could do not to bundle him off straight to Poppy.

 **("It wasn't his fault, Professor-"...** **Mr. Weasley. Potter, follow me, now.")**

"Maybe you should listen to the students more... instead of just dismissing them." Pomona murmured into Minerva's ear, low enough so the students didn't hear her. Minerva sighed wearily and nodded her agreement.

Just thinking of all the times Harry had come to her for something and she just dismissed him... she had to wonder if Sirius wouldn't have survived the Ministry fiasco if Harry had felt like he could come to her or another teacher with problems. Not to mention everything else that happened over the years.

How many times over the years did he or his friends bring their concerns to either her or, even more rare, to another teacher? Only to be dismissed? Only to be told that nothing was wrong, to keep their heads down, that so and so was trusted... only for the teachers to be proven wrong every single time. Something was wrong, keeping their heads down wasn't working because they were being targeted specifically, that person was NOT to be trusted... So many times, Harry gave the adults around him a chance, only for them to be proven unreliable.

 **(Harry caught sight of... triumphant faces as he left,)**

"We thought he was about to be expelled," Draco shrugged. "At the time, it was the best thing that could have happened." When everyone shot him dirty looks, he just shrugged. He wasn't going to go into further detail, especially since a large bit of those details involved Slytherin House politics. Severus was the only one who looked like he agreed.

 **(walking numbly in Professor McGonagall's... to be expelled, he just knew it.)**

Ron and Hermione sighed and shared a long-suffering look. "Here we go again." Ron muttered to Hermione. She nodded.

"What do you mean, Mr. Weasley?" Minerva asked briskly. She was slightly unnerved that her favorite student was having a slight panic attack like this and she hadn't even noticed.

"When Harry gets in trouble, you can't give him time to stew about what the possible punishment is going to be. He will automatically jump to the the worst scenario. I think one time..." She glanced at Ron to make sure she was getting it right. "He was waiting in the dorm to hear back about what his punishment would be, for something that he hadn't even done, by the way, it was Cormac McGlaggen who did it," She said frostily, glaring slightly at Minerva. "And he kept on going on and on about how he was going to be handed over to Professor Snape and boiled alive before being used as potion ingredients." She finished.

When everybody blinked and looked horrified, Ron shrugged. "He has a vivid imagination when it comes to punishments. I'm pretty sure his mind conjures up stuff his uncle threatened to do to him at some point, and then makes it worse by adding the whole, 'wizards have wands and can do more damage than a Muggle can', thing." He said with a sigh.

When everyone turned to Harry, both of them just shrugged and turned to see the book, hoping they could just continue reading.

Both Severus and Minerva added that into their letters, to never. Never. Let Harry Potter stew over punishments.

 **(He wanted to say something to... hadn't even lasted two weeks.)**

Ron and Hermione sighed and both whacked him on the back of the head without saying anything.

"Hey!" He yelped. "This was years ago!" They both gave him unimpressed stares. They were fully aware that this was years ago, that wasn't going to stop them from making their displeasure of his negative thoughts known.

 **(He'd be packing his bags in... turned up on the doorstep?)**

 ** _"Probably kick me to the curb."_** Harry hissed brightly. Honestly, if he'd actually been expelled, and they actually kicked him out, that would probably be the best thing to ever happen to him. Yeah, he'd then have to figure out how to survive on the streets until he figured something else out, but at the same time he could always go to Gringotts and get some money out of his trust vault.

The only good thing about that whole situation would be getting away from the Dursleys.

" _ **If they don't kick you out...** " Harry _hissed back, worried. He had a different thought, if the Dursleys let him stay after getting kicked out... they wouldn't have to worry anymore about what the wizards would do if/when Harry started school and abuse was discovered. Uncle Vernon might finally make good on his threats.

Harry glanced at him and grimaced, yeah, he'd had that thought too. Multiple times.

"I don't know what you two are hissing about over here, but stop it. Your not going to be expelled." Sirius said, looking between his boys in concern. He lied though, he knew what they were saying. He knew what they were saying everytime they started speaking Parseltongue. The Blacks were married into the Slytherin line at some point early in post-Hogwarts history, one of the younger sons or daughters (which meant they weren't in line for the Lordship), and they picked up a handy little skill from it. He knew what they were saying every time they spoke in the snake tongue.

He didn't say anything though, that was a carefully guarded family secret, especially since Voldemort rose to power. They didn't feel like being the sole subject of a witch hunt, regardless of their family wealth and influence. Personally, he'd always hated it, it was from his family, so he hated it, and therefore never really used it unless it was to have a conversation with James without others hearing them. Besides, he was surrounded by the light, people that put the fear of Parselmouth's in the wizarding community in the first place. And, his mother was bitter enough that he, Regulus, and James were the only Parselmouths of their generation, while Dorea was the only one of hers.

He would mention it to the boys later on, in private.

He wasn't sure if Moony even knew that both he and James had both been Parselmouth's. He narrowed his eyes and glanced at Albus... he might need to have that conversation with Harry sooner rather than later. He could only guess why he hadn't told Harry about it in the future. Maybe he assumed the boy had known. Who knew what Albus had told the boy when his abilities came out into the open.

He probably took it as further proof of Harry being a Horcrux. Despite the fact that abilities couldn't just be transferred like that.

 **(Up the front steps, up the... didn't say a word to him.)**

Ron and Hermione flinched. That was the worst way you could handle Harry when he was in trouble, or thought he was, anyway.

 **(She wrenched open doors... trotting miserably behind her.)**

Minerva winced. She should have looked down and said something to reassure him. Especially since she wasn't actually punishing him.

 **(Maybe she was taking him... grounds carrying Hagrid's bag.)**

Hagrid laughed. "I'd love ter have yeh, 'Arry, bu' I don' think tha'll happen." He informed his young friend. Harry just grinned up at him and started drawing the picture of Mrs. Norris for Filch. He got a separate roll of parchment so he could keep track of what pictures he wanted to do what with.

Obviously, all of them would be going in a book to give the younger him, but a couple would be copied and given to someone else.

Minerva looked stunned, and a little guilty, she had no idea all this was going through her students head, and she was somewhat the cause of it... Although, this boy did have quite the overactive imagination.

 **(Professor McGonagall stopped...** **I borrow Wood for a moment?")**

Charlie sat up slightly. Wood? Wasn't that the last name of the Gryffindor Keeper? He remembered mentioning to McGonagall his last year, shortly after the last game of the season, that the kid would make a good captain, if an over-enthusiastic one. Was this going where he thought it was going?

Remus had a pretty good idea was happening. He remembered Wood from when he taught there, and he'd heard the rumors about Harry somehow getting on the Gryffindor team his first year. But... did he seriously get on the team by disobeying a direct order from a teacher? He wasn't sure whether to be stern and disapproving, or very, very proud.

Sirius was just confused, was this 'Wood' a new disciplinary measure of some kind?

Everyone else was smirking or grinning while Harry hid his own growing smirk behind his drawing pad.

"She must have been excited if she interrupted another class for this." Fred muttered to George. His twin nodded.

 **(Wood? thought Harry, bewildered;... was going to use on him?)**

"I should hope not." Sirius exclaimed, watching the teachers warily.

Minerva sighed, still feeling bad for scaring the poor boy, but said that, no. She wasn't going to cane him. She didn't do that.

 **(But Wood turned out to be... Flitwick's class looking confused.)**

"He was probably trying to figure out what he did to get into trouble." Fred snorted.

"Or, trying to remember if he forgot to do something, again, because he was busy getting stuff around for practices to start." George said, somewhat mutinously, because Oliver was a taskmaster of the worst kind sometimes.

 **("Follow me, you two," said Professor... Wood looking curiously at Harry.)**

"It was actually kind of refreshing. He didn't look amazed at meeting the Boy-Who-Lived, he was only curious about what I was doing there and what it had to do with him." Harry said happily. A few people grinned at his happiness, while a few others scowled that such a simple thing as somebody not staring was so novel.

 **("In here."**

 **Professor McGonagall pointed... rude words on the blackboard.)**

Sirius and Remus both chuckled, while Severus turned bright red. Minerva glared at the two Marauders.

"And who taught him those?" She asked them icily.

They stopped chuckling and their eyes widened at her tone and they both pointed to Severus and said, "He did!"

Her eyes narrowed further, and she started to hiss, much like her animagus, "Severus never did any such..." She trailed off when she actually glanced in Severus' direction, to see his face red in embarrassment. "Severus?" She asked, shocked. Everyone else was, too.

Finally, he spoke. "It was Lily's idea." Was his only defense. "I just... made sure it was carried out and we didn't get caught..." He muttered, suddenly feeling like he was eleven years old again. Everyone was staring at him in shock, and he couldn't stop the small smile that came to his face, to further shock. There had been many times, many pranks, and many more tricks played by himself and Lily, that they ended up setting up so that the Marauders took the blame.

The best part, whenever the four tried to protest (the knew it was Severus and Lily, most of the time, it only got them into further trouble. For one, lying to a teacher. For another, trying to blame other students for their trouble-making. The two of them made sure they had solid alibi's, every time.

 **("Out, Peeves!" she barked... and he swooped out cursing.)**

"Now, THOSE we taught him some." Sirius and Remus said together, pointing between themselves. Minerva pursed her lips, but didn't say anything. She was still reeling over the news that her star pupil, wasn't so innocent after all.

 **(Professor McGonagall slammed...** **I've found you a Seeker.")**

"Wait." There was a beat of silence as people turned to watch Sirius, who had frozen. After a moment, a wide grin stretched across his face. The next moment, Harry was being hugged practically to death. "I'm so proud," Sirius exclaimed. He finally sat back and grabbed both boys in another side hug.

The Heads of House were watching Minerva. "What?" She finally asked them.

"Really, Minerva, not even giving him a punishment for the fact he was flying without supervision after being told to keep his feet on the ground?" Severus asked her. "You just went straight for the rewarding of bad behavior."

She blushed. She hadn't even thought about punishing him for flying in the first place, she was just thinking about his skill in the air and how desperately the Gryffindor team needed that kind of talent on it. Otherwise it would have been an enormous waste of talent.

Molly blinked at Minerva a few times, her expression looking something like somebody had kicked her puppy. Like she couldn't believe Minerva had betrayed her like this.

 **(Wood's expression changed from puzzlement to delight.)**

"Oh, I bet." Fred said, seriously.

"We didn't find a single person who could play Seeker during the try-outs."

"It was very frustrating for everyone."

"Seriously, out of all the people who showed up,"

"You would think that at least one of them..."

"...would be able to catch a single ball that we threw for them." The twins said, and they did look frustrated just thinking about it.

 **("Are you serious, Professor?")**

Harry chuckled. "He looked like he got hit with a Bludger and was still trying to figure out what happened." He informed with a grin.

 **("Absolutely," said Professor McGonagall... time on a broomstick, Potter?")**

"That I remembered, anyway." Harry said cheerfully. Thinking back to the torn picture he found of him on a little toy broomstick.

Sirius was thinking along the same lines. "Oh, that toy broom I got you for your first birthday drove Lily insane." He chuckled. "See, she developed sort of a routine, she would let you ride it, then send you to bed. Only, when it was time for you to go to bed, you didn't want to. So, she would be trying to put it away for bedtime, and you would keep summoning it right back to keep playing with it." He said with a grin. "You've always been good at summoning things... shiny things being the most popular when you were younger." Both Harry's were beet red by this point, and all the women thought hearing about a baby Harry was just adorable.

 **(Harry nodded silently. He didn't...** **Weasley couldn't have done it.")**

"No, no I could not have." Charlie breathed, still in awe. He knew the kid was a natural in the air, but, damn!

Harry grinned cheekily at him, and he scowled back, but there was no heat to it.

 **(Wood was now looking as...** **Potter?" he asked excitedly.)**

"Nope!" Harry said, popping the 'p' cheerfully, and happily watching all the other Quidditch nuts in the room squirm with their displeasure at hearing such a thing from his mouth.

 **("Wood's captain of the Gryffindor team," Professor McGonagall explained.)**

"Finally." A few people muttered, they'd honestly been waiting for Harry to finally snap and ask what was going on, but it seemed his head had still been focusing on whether or not he was expelled. But, now it seemed Minerva was going to actually explain a little bit.

 **("He's just the build for... or a Cleansweep Seven, I'd say.")**

"And, of course you got the Nimbus." Severus muttered, looking at her out of the corner of his eye. The Nimbus just happened to be the faster of the two brooms, but both were equally suited for Seeking. Minerva smirked at him. Like she would put her star Seeker on anything less than the very best. Besides, it also counted as a late birthday present... for ten birthdays worth.

Remus wasn't the only one who'd sent birthday and Christmas presents that the boy hadn't even received.

 **("I shall speak to Professor Dumbledore... _Flattened_ in that last match by Slytherin,)**

Severus smirked. "And what a glorious flattening it was." He sighed in remembrance. Minerva scowled while everyone else, especially the younger crowd that he taught, stared at him in shock.

Which made sense, he was acting human around them for a change, and not like how he normally would, like the Dungeon Bat.

 **(I couldn't looked Severus Snape in the face for weeks...")**

Severus smirked smugly while her scowl deepened and Pomona and Filius rolled their eyes at each other, and Albus' eyes twinkled at them.

Honestly, the two of them could be the best of friends one minute, or as much as Severus had 'friends', the next they were practically mortal enemies as soon as anyone mentioned Slytherin, Gryffindor, and Quidditch in the same context. It was both annoying and endearing.

 **(Professor McGonagall peered sternly...** **my mind about punishing you.")**

"Oh, that explains it." Fred and George said, blinking in realization.

"Explains what?" Minerva asked, looking away from her silent stand-off with Severus.

"Why Harrikins here was always the hardest worker during practice." The Twins said.

"He probably thought you would change your mind and expel him anyway if you didn't think he was working hard enough." Hermione said with a sigh. A few others sighed in exasperation, but didn't say anything. Many of them were just starting to realize that Harry was a very negative thinker, he tended to jump straight to the worse case scenario.

Nobody could see it much of Harry's face behind his drawing pad, beyond that it was suddenly very red.

Sirius sighed and shook his head, bumping Harry with his shoulder. He was rewarded with a quick grin flashed in his direction from behind the book, and he figured that would have to be it for now.

 **(Then she suddenly smiled...** **Quidditch player himself.")**

"Hmmm..." Remus started, rubbing his chin in thought. "Which would he be more proud of..." He wondered.

"Him getting on the team as a first year..." Sirius picked up the train of thought, leaning back and laying his arm around _Harry's_ shoulders.

"Or the fact that he got on the team instead of being punished like he should have been..." Remus finished, throwing a stern look at Harry, who threw up his hands and gestured to Minerva, as if to say, 'don't blame me, she's the one who did it!'

The Marauder's looked at each other. "Both!" They finally declared, and ignored how some were laughing, and the way Minerva was trying (and failing) to look sternly disapproving.

After a moment, when the laughter died down, Sirius looked at the ceiling and said, "But, yes. James was a very good Quidditch player. I'll have to show you some memories sometime... of both your parents." He said quietly to both boys sitting beside him. Earning big, hopeful puppy dog eyes.

 **("You're _joking_.")**

"What?"

"I think this is when I went to dinner and told Ron." Harry said.

"Ah."

 **(It was dinnertime. Harry... but he'd forgotten all about it.)**

"Oh, that's attractive." Ginny muttered with a grimace. She didn't say anything else, though. She knew her brother's table manners were almost non-existent. Molly sighed. No matter how hard she tried, or what she tried, Ron's brain just seemed to stop working as soon as food was placed in front of him.

Oh, he knew his manners, and how to behave. It was more a matter of getting him to actually do it.

Nobody noticed or cared about the looks of disgust on the Petunia's faces.

 **(" _Seeker?"_ he said. "But... player in about-"  
**

 **"-a century,")**

A few people whistled appreciatively. Both that Harry already knew that off the top of his head (Those that knew him, figured Oliver probably told him), and at the long time.

 **(said Harry, shoveling pie... excitement of the afternoon.)**

"I would be too." A few of the Weasley boys said with a sigh and a glance towards the kitchen.

"You boys are always hungry!" Molly said, shaking her head fondly. She didn't mind, she loved being able to feed her family. Loved cooking for them.

 **("Wood told me."**

 **Ron was so... just sat and gaped at Harry.)**

"You had food in your mouth, by the way." Harry informed his best friend casually, as if they were discussing the weather.

"Oh, really? Sorry about that." For some reason, they got an eye roll from Hermione and strange looks from everyone else.

 **("I start training next week,"... Wood wants to keep it a secret.")**

"Which means the whole school probably knew about it within five minutes. Or less." Pretty much everybody said at once.

"Yeah, pretty much." Harry said with a sigh.

"We were stopped by at least..."

"... ten different people on our way to the..."

"... Great Hall for dinner to be..."

"... asked about it, Wood finally found us just before we got there." The Twins said. Wood had been quite put out when they told him that everybody already knew, especially since he'd wanted to give his team the good news himself, which he couldn't do because the team already knew before he could tell them.

 **(Fred and George Weasley now...** **on the team too- Beaters.")**

Fred and George high-fived each other, and Harry grinned, thinking of all the times the two of them specifically targeted Malfoy. Almost de-broomed him quite a few times during games. They were remarkably skilled at targeting one person with one ball, while still making sure the other ball was doing the work of two to make up the difference.

Draco scowled at the twins, those two were just as much of a menace towards the other teams chances of winning as Harry was on a broom. Honestly, it was only outside intervention that kept the Gryffindor team from being the champions the entire time Harry was at school, and he was just talking about those three. That's not even counting the amazingly skilled and coordinated Chasers and the Keeper. Getting the Quaffle past Oliver Wood was considered to be the biggest achievement in Hogwarts Chasing history.

Of course, you usually had to get the Quaffle away from the Gryffindor girls first.

 **("I tell you, we're going... for sure this year," said Fred.)**

Fred groaned and dropped his face in his hands. "Freddy, I think you jinxed us." George said, accusingly. In answer, Fred started 'sobbing' into his shoulder, prompting his more caring twin to start 'comforting' him.

Harry looked down, guiltily. It was his fault they had lost that first year, if he hadn't been in the Hospital Wing after going after that stupid stone... then he wouldn't have let his teammates down like that.

George noticed his guilt and got his Twins attention. "Harry. Stop." They said, glaring slightly. Said boy looked up, startled.

"The only one to blame for us losing..."

"...that game is Oliver."

"For not having taken the time..."

"... to train a reserve Seeker." The twins said, still glaring slightly as they tried to get their point across. And, really, it was beyond stupid, for them not to have a reserve. For any of the positions, not just Seeker. Stuff happened, sometimes players weren't able to play a game. It was why the Gryffindor House was so zealous about guarding their team in the couple of weeks leading up to a game. Especially when it was against Slytherin.

Harry just stared at them, stunned.

Glancing at each other, they nodded before asking to be excused for a moment. When they were alone, they disguised their voices and set about making their Howler. Yelling at Oliver Wood through the parchment about not having a reserve string. They then calmly spelled it so it wouldn't accidentally go off while they were still here, and walked back out. When they got back to their seats, George calmly slipped it into the folder they had set aside with parchments (lists and letters) that would go back with _Ron_. Then Fred pulled the parchment he'd been using to plan out a new product (what he wanted it to do, they would work on actually making it later when they stopped for the night) and got back to work.

Luckily, the rest of the room had been busy discussing the Hogwarts Quidditch cup and the book hadn't resumed.

 **("We haven't won since Charlie left,)**

Minerva scowled at the reminder, and ignored Severus's smirk.

 **(but this year's team is going to be brilliant...** **new secret passageway out of the school.")**

"Oh?" Severus asked, interested. He poised his quill to write down the location and to make a note to have this passage noted and monitored.

All those who used the passageways over the years for one reason or another glared at him, knowing what he was thinking.

Dudley tilted his head. With all the talk they'd been doing about security measures and all that, wouldn't a passageway in and out be a risk to that security? Although, he supposed if they weren't even known about anymore...

 **("Bet it's that one behind... in our first week. See you.")**

Severus blinked. He never would have thought of anything being behind that statue. He didn't pay it anymore attention, though, and noted it down as a route for students to be going places they shouldn't be.

Sirius looked at the Twins in interest. First week, huh? It had taken the Marauder's a couple of weeks to find that one. Of course, this was before it was the four of them. At that point, it had just been himself and James.. Remus and Peter didn't really start hanging out with them until later, and that was mostly by virtue of being roommates at first. Eventually, the four were inseparable.

The Twins were horrified at the realization that all the teachers were about to learn of the passageways, cutting them off from going into Hogsmeade or disappearing to Diagon Alley if they needed to for prank or party supplies. The House-elves could only supply so much after all.

Harry was watching Severus warily, and looked to the rest of the room like he was debating something. Finally, he sighed. "You know, as much as I don't want to give the teachers anymore ammunition against us," He gestured between himself, the Twins, and the Marauders. "At the same time... those passageways do need to be monitored against anybody coming in who shouldn't be, because I have no doubt that Pettigrew told Voldemort about them. They should also be maintained, because they make good potential escape routes." He was honestly torn. Tell the teachers, and cut off a way for pranksters to get in and out to acquire things for the student body when it wasn't a Hogsmeade weekend, or stay silent and leave the school open to people who could potentially harm the students.

Albus noticed his internal battle and turned thoughtful. He shared the same concerns. On the one hand, let the children continue to be children in a safe manner where nobody was being hurt, or let people in who shouldn't be there. That being said, he couldn't collapse them, because like Harry said, they also make good escape routes if the students ever needed one and the route to the Entrance Hall was cut off. "Perhaps I could set up a ward on the outside entrance of these passages that keeps those not belonging to Hogwarts out..." He said thoughtfully. He started writing down ideas and underlined the note to speak to Godric. Several times. He was quite ashamed that there was so much he didn't know about his school. Not even he knew there was anything behind that statue.

Severus frowned, annoyed at the Headmasters suggestion. That didn't do anything for making sure the students stayed out of them.

 **(Fred and George had hardly... flanked by Crabbe and Goyle.)**

Ginny frowned. Then she smirked mischievously. "You know, Malfoy, keep it up or people are going to start talking." She said suggestively. Draco frowned, but then turned bright red and started (he would forever deny it) sputtering at the insinuation, as did Harry. Most of the guys started laughing at the new teasing material they were just given. Naturally, the younger ones didn't get it, and nobody was going to enlighten them.

Molly was shocked, she'd never heard her little girl talk like that. "Ginevra!" She exclaimed. Ginny just shrugged it off and grinned while Luna giggled.

Finally, Draco managed to find his voice and turned on his godfather when he noticed that even Severus was smirking in amusement.

Because, what nobody else knew, was that there had indeed been rumors running rampant in the House of Snakes. Simple teasing, of course. Everyone knew Draco Malfoy was betrothed to the youngest Greengrass girl and her father would kill him if he even thought about looking somewhere else. He honestly hadn't expected a Lion to say something though.

 **("Having a last meal, Potter?)**

"Nope!" Harry chirped happily. Draco twitched slightly, but didn't look at him.

 **(When are you getting the train back to the Muggles?")**

"Never." Harry said with a smile. Ignoring said Muggles sneers and silent taunts. (Somebody silenced them when they noticed that the Dursleys were about to say something.)

Draco turned a little red, but otherwise didn't react. After Ginny's comment, he seemed determined to not even look at Harry Potter, which only added amusement for Severus.

 **("You're a lot braver now that...** **you want. Wizard's duel.)**

"Draconis Lucius Malfoy!" Severus exclaimed, shocked and angry that his godson just said that. He knew full well that wizard's duels were not something to take lightly like this, and yet, here he was. Challenging Harry Potter to one. He looked around at the room full of people who had no business knowing his and his godsons business. "We will discuss this later." He promised both boys named Draco. Draco was sunk down in his seat, while _Draco_ himself seemed shocked that his older self would go this far.

 **(Wands only- no contact... wizard's duel before, I suppose?")**

"No, actually, I hadn't." Harry said, somewhat cheerfully, but the look he shot Ron said it all. Nobody else noticed the look, though. He had not been happy about being volunteered to fight somebody.

 **("Of course he has," said... his second, who's yours?")**

"Ronald, you did NOT just accept a duel on behalf of somebody else." His mother said, incredulously. She could have sworn she taught him better than this.

"Especially when you knew that the person you just accepted for, has no idea of the wizarding world, and doesn't even know what a wizard's duel is." His father was equally shocked.

Harry bit his lip, then asked. "Just how bad could it have been?" He asked resigned, not even sure if he wanted to know the answer.

"If you had lost the duel, then the entire Potter estate could have gone to the House Malfoy. No exceptions." Severus said, his eyes wide. He had been angry enough that Draco would even suggest having a duel, but for the Weasley boy to just accept for him?! "And vice-versa."

"When you say ENTIRE estate..."

"Money, heirlooms, properties, businesses, seats on the Wizengamot and the Board... All of it would have belonged to the Malfoy's." Moody said gruffly, his fake eye fixed on the oldest Malfoy in the room. "Even your trust vault, despite the fact that that is not part of the estate as a whole."

"And, since I was in Azkaban at the time and you were named my heir, the Black estate would have been in jeopardy of going to House Malfoy as well." Sirius said, slightly shocked.

Harry's eyes were wide. "But... if one of the duelers didn't even show up, would that have meant anything...?" He asked.

Severus slowly shook his head, slightly relieved, because if one of the two boys hadn't shown up, then it meant that one of them hadn't lost their entire family fortune plus some to the other, without even realizing it.

Possibly.

"It depends, in most cases, not showing up could be seen as forfeit, and the winners spoils would then go to the party that won by default. There are always exceptions to that, extenuating circumstances leading to one of the parties not being able to make it... Thankfully, with Mr. Weasley accepting on your behalf, then you and your estate should be safe no matter what happens during the duel, or lack of a duel." He swallowed. However, with Ron accepting on Harry's behalf, it would have meant the entire Weasley estate, such as it is, would have been on the line instead. And the Weasley's had already lost their estate to the Malfoy family, with just the Burrow to their name.

He decided not to mention that, he was fairly certain the Weasley parents and oldest sibling would make the possible consequences perfectly clear to the youngest male Weasley.

The Weasley parents finally got themselves under control. They turned on both Rons in the room. "We will be discussing this in more depth later, young man." They said in unison to the older Ron, but made sure the younger one knew that he would be there for this discussion.

 **(Malfoy looked at Crabbe and Goyle, sizing them up.)**

"Wait, you're picking which one of them to be your second, based on their physical presence?" Sirius asked, confused. When Draco nodded, he shook his head and continued. "Shouldn't you be picking them based on their magical capability?" He asked.

Severus snorted. "The younger Crabbe and Goyle are even worse than their fathers. No brain, and barely any magic ability to speak of. They just barely scrape enough passing grades between the two of them so they can come back to school every year."

Sirius blinked at him in horror. "There is somebody out there worse than..." He trailed off. Severus nodded grimly, and Sirius sat back, looking like the world had just imploded around him.

"See, this is why marrying your cousins or siblings is bad." Hermione said to Draco primly. He blinked at her, then considered the Muggle science book he had in his and Severus' room. He made a mental note to read it as soon as he possible.

 **("Crabbe," he said. "Midnight... room; that's always unlocked.")**

Severus narrowed his eyes. "That's going to change." He announced, and started adding to his letter and list of things to do... again. That trophy room wouldn't stay unlocked at night for long, not if he had anything to say about the matter. Honestly, it wouldn't take long for a teacher to stop by around curfew, and lock the dumb door.

A few of the kids made noises of dismay, only to be glared into submission by their teachers.

 **(When Malfoy had gone, Ron...**

 **"What _is_ a wizard's duel?")**

Heads thumped into the back of the couch and groans were heard throughout the room. Ron looked around sheepishly.

 **(said Harry. "And what do...** **die," said Ron casually,)**

"Lovely, Ron. Just lovely." Hermione and Ginny said, they looked at each other, surprised, before they grinned. Ron scowled at the girls.

"Ronald..." His mother said sternly. She was still in shock over the fact that he just accepted a duel for somebody else, and then to be so casual about one of the boys dying! Ron went white and lost his scowl when he heard his mother.

 **(getting started at last on... you know, with real wizards.)**

"What are you, a Muggle waving a stick around?" The twins asked their younger brother, with strange looks on their faces.

"I meant, fully trained wizards." Ron muttered. Hermione glared at the twins, telling them with her eyes to back off and leave him alone already. They wisely backed off.

"And deaths are usually avoided if it can be helped. Of course, accidents happen sometimes, but one of the main rules of a wizards duel is nothing fatal." Filius said with a frown. Maybe he should teach the younger kids some dueling while they were here. Maybe some basic spells... they would be starting Hogwarts this coming year after all. And all pureblood children came to school knowing basic protection spells already. Well, except for the Weasley's.

 **(The most you and Malfoy'll be... he expected you to refuse, anyway.")**

"I would have refused." Harry said bluntly. "I had nothing to prove, and I didn't even know what he was talking about." Ron colored bright red while Molly groaned in frustration.

"And I assure you, I would have been throwing more than sparks out." Draco said, somewhat offended. Honestly, did the Weasley's not have a full pre-Hogwarts education AT ALL? The etiquette lessons and stuff he could understand there being no need for or the money to put into tutors, and there were a lot of them for Mrs. Weasley to teach by herself, but not even basic protection spells?

 **("And what if I wave my...** **punch him on the nose,")**

"That would result in an automatic forfeit on the part of whoever threw away their wand." Filius said while most of the adults groaned.

"Wait, what?" Ron asked, startled.

Filius sighed and muttered about how they really needed a proper dueling club. "General dueling etiquette and rules, the duel usually goes until one of the duelers is either unconscious, or disarmed. Meaning they no longer have their wand in hand. Whether they are the ones to throw it away, or if their opponent disarmed them, the moment the wand leaves their hand, the duel is over and their opponent wins." He explained. Oh, yes. He would definitely be teaching the younger kids some dueling while they were here.

"Oh..." Ron said. "Sorry, mate." He said to Harry, who just shrugged. It wasn't like he was planning on getting into any duels anytime soon.

 **(Ron suggested. "Excuse me."...** **peace in this place?" said Ron.)**

"Rude." Ginny said, staring at her brother.

"We'd just been interrupted by Malfoy, and then not even five seconds later, we were interrupted by somebody else who had been annoying us recently!" Ron said in defense. "No offense to you two." He added as an afterthought after Harry jabbed him in the ribs.

Pomona was looking at Hermione somewhat suspiciously. After all, the girl was quite the stickler for rules back then, and for trying to get others to follow them. And here she was, moments after Draco Malfoy left their side after discussing quite a bit of rule-breaking later that night.

 **(Hermione ignored him and spoke...** **what you and Malfoy were saying -")**

"That's also rude." Fred said with a sage nod. Hermione turned red.

A few who had been around her back then, looked at her suspiciously. They just knew that she was going to try and tell Harry what to do.

 **("Bet you could," Ron muttered...** **be. It's really very selfish of you.")**

"First, I'm not the one who was making plans. You were yelling at the wrong person." Harry drawled, sounding a lot like Severus in that moment. "Second, I am so glad we worked that out of you." He said, gratefully.

Hermione turned even more red and mumbled something against Ron's shoulder when she shoved her face into it. Nobody else caught, but whatever it was made Harry and Ron laugh fondly.

 **("And it's really none of your business," said Harry.)**

Pomona sighed, "It really wasn't, dear." She said gently to both girls.

 **("Good-bye," said Ron.)**

"Although, the way you said it was rude, too." Remus reprimanded lightly. Ron and Harry grinned at Hermione sheepishly a little bit, but she just grinned.

"How on earth did the three of you become friends?" Ginny wondered. Because, honestly. Right now, all they were was Hermione reprimanding for everything, butting into their private conversations, and otherwise making a nuisance of herself. With the boys retaliating rudely. Instead of answering, Harry and Ron both looked at Sirius and Molly respectively and laughed nervously.

Honestly, Harry never even told his Sirius about the troll. He didn't really tell Sirius anything about his first two years of school... although Sirius probably heard some of it from Professor McGonagall or Remus. Snape probably threw in some comments, too.

The boys attitude towards Ginny's question didn't reassure anybody who didn't already know. Minerva and Severus both glanced at each other and sighed.

 **(All the same, it wasn't what you'd... from the hospital wing).)**

"Why?" Poppy asked, concerned. "I released you shortly after dinner." She informed the room. Neville turned red, but didn't say anything.

Harry sighed. He had a feeling Neville had either just gotten lost, or took a different way to avoid some older boys who would have started teasing, and then gotten lost. Either, that, or he holed up somewhere nearby waiting for the other boys to leave, and then went on his way, only to realize he didn't remember the password. Neville back then had absolutely no confidence.

 **(Ron had spent all evening giving... remember how to block them.")**

"Couldn't remember?" Molly repeated. "What was there to remember, I hadn't taught you Shield Charms, so where would you remember them from?" She asked her son, suspiciously.

Bill and Charlie cleared their throats. "We taught all of them some basic shield charms when we were home the Christmas before they were due to go to Hogwarts. Figured it would be best if they were able to defend themselves right from the beginning, instead of waiting for them to get that far in class." Bill informed his mother, in a tone of voice that told her that they were not sorry and didn't care what she thought about it.

She was not happy. "You boys know full well it against the law to be doing magic when your underage, not to mention before Hogwarts, even!" She yelled at her oldest boys. "If the Ministry had caught them..."

"One, that wouldn't have happened because they didn't even have their own wands, yet. Therefore, no Trace." Bill interrupted.

"And, we were in a wizarding household. Even if they did have the Trace already, it wouldn't have picked up anything from them because there is so much magic already around. Not to mention you, dad, and us doing magic of our own all the time." Charlie continued.

"Gotta love loopholes." Arthur and Percy both muttered while Molly stared at her two boys in shock.

"Wait," Hermione muttered as her brain turned over something Charlie had just said. "If your in a Magical household, the Trace is irrelevant?" The purebloods nodded. "But that's so unfair! That means that Pureblood's are able to practice over the holidays, while us Muggleborns have to wait until we get back to school to try and catch up! Not to mention, what if something happens, and we need to use magic, then we just get in trouble over protecting ourselves!" She was gearing up for a full rant when Harry and Ron both slapped their hands over her mouth. She was right, it was unfair, but...

"The world isn't fair, girl." Severus sneered. "Stop complaining every time something happens that you don't like." It was giving him a headache. How on earth did the Weasley's and Harry survive seven years of this?

 **(There was a very good chance... another school rule today.)**

"Yes, well, pushing your luck seems to be a specialty of yours." Severus half-heartedly sneered. Harry had the nerve to give him a big, cheeky grin.

 **(On the other hand, Malfoys sneering... face-to-face. He couldn't miss it.)**

Sirius gave his godson a raised eyebrow. Harry sighed. "I thought, if I could beat him, he would leave me alone already." He said quietly. Sirius sighed, but said nothing. After all, compared to what he did at school sometimes, this was very mild.

 **("Half-past eleven," Ron muttered at last, "we'd better go."**

 **They pulled on their bathrobes,)**

"You should have at least worn everyday clothes." Remus scolded. Harry turned red. He hadn't even thought of it, he'd been too nervous for the upcoming duel. The other teachers looked at Remus, betrayed. That wasn't what he should have been scolding about!

Sometimes, they forgot that he himself was once a part of a notorious group of pranksters and mischief makers.

 **(picked up their wands, and... a** **pink bathrobe and a frown.)**

"Did you just stay up all night so you could stop them from leaving? When it's really none of your business?" Ginny asked, incredulous. The others were surprised, too. Hermione nodded, her face red. Ron put an arm around her and glared at everyone to back off.

"You know," Minerva muttered to the other teachers. "I remember seeing them get together and thinking that she would be a good influence on them. Now, I know that they've all corrupted each other." They nodded in agreement.

 **("You!" said Ron furiously. "Go back...** **a prefect, he'd put a stop to this.")**

"Whoa, interfering much?" Ginny asked the other girl incredulously, raised eyebrow and everything. The teachers were looking at her in shock, they didn't remember seeing this kind of behavior before. In fact, several of them could not remember ever seeing a student act this way.

Severus seemed to snap out of it first, "If you were going to come to anybody about it, it should have been one of us." He said, glowering at the girl. He knew that he never heard anything about a duel that was supposed to happen this night, if he had he would have stopped it then and there. Wizard's duels were not to be taken lightly, after all. The other teachers nodded in agreement while Hermione turned red.

"Even so." Fred started.

"That doesn't change the fact,"

"That this isn't any of her business."

"And if she's trying to make friends,"

"This is not how you do it." The Twins finished together.

Everyone Bill's age or younger nodded in complete agreement with everything they said, even Percy. Even he wasn't this bad, and his older brothers had informed him many times over the time they were all in school together (brief, though it was), that he needed to back off or nobody would even remotely like him.

 **(Harry couldn't believe anyone could be so interfering.)**

"Thank you." Ginny said, nodding sagely. Hermione turned red again.

 **("Come on," he said to Ron. He... and climbed through the hole.)**

Severus hissed, before he added to his parchment. Maybe adding spells to the entrances so students couldn't leave before a certain time... no, then they wouldn't be able to go find a teacher or take a fellow student to the Hospital Wing during the night if they needed to. Students were able to move in cases of emergency much quicker than portraits could sometimes, after all.

Maybe put an intent based ward... so the student could still get out in case of emergency, but not just to go gallivanting about the castle at night however they pleased... he couldn't believe he hadn't thought of this years ago.

There were cried of dismay from the younger generation (and two of his generation) when they saw him writing, and guessed what it was.

 **(Hermione wasn't going to give up that easily.)**

"Of course she wasn't." Ginny muttered.

Fred and George blinked. Then looked at the Trio, sitting on the couch. Then blinked again, then started thinking about everything the Trio had gotten up to at school. "You know, George, I think those boys have been a bad influence on our little Hermione."

"I like to think we all have been, Freddy."

Fred sighed, "Pity they weren't able to completely work it out of her system." His brother sighed and nodded mournfully alongside him, both thinking of her fifth year when they were trying to test their product. They had checked in the rule book, and there had been nothing in there about them advertising for testers, and then testing on them. Especially since the product had already been tested on themselves and deemed safe for human consumption. So much research time, lost, because they were trying to avoid her just so they didn't have to hear it.

 **(She followed Ron through the... at them like an angry goose.)**

"I was not!" Hermione exclaimed, lightly slapping Harry on the arm.

"You kind of did, right then, 'Mione." Ron said, sheepishly, leaning away from her to avoid the same treatment. She was about to say something, when...

"You do sound like that, sometimes." Neville piped up. He'd been quiet recently, more content to listen until he came up or something needed to be said, much like he always did at Hogwarts. Well, before he ended up thrust into a leadership position of the students resistance movement.

Hermione shot him a betrayed look, but he just shrugged apologetically.

 **("Don't you care about Gryffindor, do... for knowing about Switching Spells."**

 **"Go away.")**

"No doubt." All the pranksters muttered. So many pranks had had to be abandoned because of people like her doing this exact thing and interfering at a very bad time. Even Harry had had that happen a few times, mostly the few times where one of his dorm mates couldn't sleep that night and happened to be up when he was about to leave to set things up.

Sirius, Remus, and the Twins hadn't really had that problem, since their dorm mates were partners in crime. The other two marauders and Lee Jordan.

 **("All right, but I warned you... home tomorrow, you're so -")**

"Whoa." A few people muttered.

 **(But what they were, they... herself facing an empty painting.)**

ALL the Gryffindors, because, lets face it, they have all been out at night when they were supposed to be at some point groaned.

"I hate it when that happens."

"Why can't she just stay put?"

"Honestly, she knows that somebody is out there, they opened the portrait, so why?"

"It's worse when she goes wandering in the middle of the day, and you need to get in to get stuff for the next class."

"It really sucks when your caught, just because she wasn't there. Otherwise, you wouldn't be caught!"

Every non-Gryffindor in the room stared at them with wide eyes and couldn't help but be grateful for the fact that their Common Room guardians weren't portraits who could just get up and leave. Although, they couldn't help but wish that their house common areas were more interesting like the Gryffindor's was.

Seriously, they had their own maze with classrooms and exercise rooms just for them, plus a portrait who made things interesting, _and_ they had their Founders portrait hidden away somewhere in that maze of theirs. How unfair was that? It made them determined to go to Hogwarts and try and see if their own House actually had anything hidden away that was just for them, but had faded out of history. Unlike the Gryffindor's areas, which still seemed to be widely used and loved.

Although, this actually explained why Minerva would let her Lions get away with not having the proper materials in class, or for being late, whenever two little words were uttered. 'Fat Lady.' That was all they had to say, and they would be let off without any questions, points off, detention, nothing. It seemed that this was an ongoing problem, if even Dumbledore was grumbling about her leaving.

 **(The Fat Lady had gone on a nighttime visit)**

"Hmm," Harry said, "She was probably going to visit her friend, Violet in that room off the Great Hall. Those two are always together." He muttered, and all the Gryffindor's made a face. They didn't like Violet. All the strange passwords the Fat Lady came up with, actually seemed to come from her. And she came up with some strange ones.

 **(and Hermione was locked out of Gryffindor tower.)**

A few Gryffindor's made sympathetic noises or got up to pat her on the back or shoulder. Even if they didn't exactly think that she had any business being out there, no matter how noble her intentions seemed to be, they had all been in that position, they knew what it was like.

 **("Now what am I going to do?" she asked shrilly.)**

"Keep it down, for starters." Harry, the Twins, Sirius, and Remus all said at once.

Harry continued. "It's very easy to avoid being caught, if you don't panic and don't make noise."

"Also, if you know the patrol routes and schedule." The Twins said while Sirius and Remus nodded in agreement. All the teachers glared at the five of them.

 **("That's your problem," said Ron...** **when Hermione caught up with them.)**

"Well," Sirius started, with a grimace. "Not like she can just sit outside and wait for the Fat Lady to show up again. Who knows how long that could take."

"Besides, she's less likely to get seen outside the Common Room and rat you out if she's with you, anyway." Remus added with a shrug. The teachers looked at him, betrayed, again.

Nobody seemed to notice that Draco was shrinking in on himself more and more, the further into the chapter they got and the closer they got to learning that he'd sent Filch after them instead of going himself. Normally, he would have been patting himself on the back about how Slytherin it had been about it. But... now that he'd grown up and knew a bit more about Wizards Duels... And Uncle Sev already wasn't happy that he challenged Potter in the first place.

 **("I'm coming with you," she said.**

 **"You are not.")**

"Nowhere else for her to go." The Twins, Harry, Sirius, and Remus (the Five) all said in unison, scaring several people.

 **("D'you think I'm going to... you, and you can back me up.")**

"Whoa." Nearly all the Weasley's said, looking at Hermione with wide eyes. The teachers were starting to look at her like she was some new, undiscovered species that hadn't been identified yet.

"Bossy and demanding much?" The Twins asked, still staring at her.

Hermione shrank back into her seat, bright red. It took Ron and Harry both putting their arms around her and glaring at the rest of the room to get them to stop staring.

 **("You've got some nerve -" said Ron loudly.)**

"Keep it down!" All the pranksters called, exasperated. Honestly, some people didn't appreciate that the art of not getting caught started with not making noise and attracting attention! Ron turned red. He learned, eventually.

 **("Shut up, both of you!" said Harry sharply. "I heard something.")**

"At least I was quiet about it." Harry grumbled.

"Aw, look, their first quarrel as they Trio." Neville said, teasingly.

Harry groaned, "Nev, buddy, please don't encourage them." He said dryly. Ron and Hermione stuck their tongues out at the others.

 **(It was a sort of snuffling.**

 **"Mrs. Norris?")**

"She doesn't snuffle." The Five said absently, four of them trying to figure out what was making this noise.

 **(breathed Ron, squinting through the dark.**

 **It wasn't Mrs. Norris. It was Neville.)**

"What?"

 **(He was curled up on the floor... awake as they crept nearer.)**

"Were you out there all night?!" Minerva asked. She was shocked, why hadn't a Prefect or one of the Ghosts found him and brought him to her, or, even better, let him into the Tower?! Neville nodded sheepishly.

 **("Thank goodness you found me! I've been out here for hours,)**

"Hours." Minerva said faintly. The Prefect rounds would have started, and ended hours ago. Why did one of them not help the boy out? And there had to have been somebody coming to bed from the Maze sometime during those hours, why did none of them help?! Not to mention the Ghosts patrol the halls all night, even after the Prefects and teachers went to bed.

She scowled and started furiously adding to her letter. Clearly, some of the Prefects were not doing their jobs properly.

 **(I couldn't remember the new password to get in to bed.")**

Neville sighed. "I'm never going to remember that dumb password." He groused. His year mates chuckled at him a little.

"That's alright, your mother could never remember them either." Remus said, slightly amused.

"Really?" Neville asked, excited to learn something about his parents that wasn't about how great and amazing they were. Why was it, that after something happened and a person was no longer there, that suddenly, they had no faults, and were absolutely perfect in every way? He wished that his grandmother would tell him about their faults, it would make them seem more like real people, and not some story characters. Despite the fact that they were still in St. Mungoes and he visited every Christmas and birthday, could touch them and hold their hands.

"Really." Remus said sadly. "It was so bad, that in our third year, Lily brought her some Muggle memory games and exercises to try and help her to remember stuff."

"Really?" Now Harry asked, he hadn't known that. He knew his mother and Alice Longbottom were friends, how could they not be, they castrated Dedalus Diggle together when he was supposed to be babysitting him and Neville, but he didn't really hear much about his mother. Severus had yet to sit him and Dudley down and tell them what he knew. Hopefully, they would be able to force Petunia to go over what Severus didn't know. Sirius and Remus told him about her, too, but most of their stories were solely based on after his parents got together.

Remus chuckled again. "Yes."

 **("Keep your voice down, Neville. The...** **Pomfrey mended it in about a minute.")**

"And then kept me there for a few hours to let my ankle heal up so I could walk normally again." Neville said with a shrug.

 **("Good - well, look, Neville, we've...** **Baron's been past twice already.")**

"Wha- and he didn't stop to see if you were alright, or to bring you to somebody who could let you into the Tower? Are you-" She broke off into mutters and kept furiously writing. She couldn't believe this, if she had known that one of her Lions ended up sleeping outside the Common Room for most of the night, in the cold hallways... If she found out that the Baron didn't help just because the student was a Gryffindor... She was going to find some way of forcing him to move on if was the last thing she did. She didn't care if he was one of the oldest Ghosts in the castle and friends with Salazar Slytherin himself.

When Neville and a few others looked confused, Severus decided to explain. "The Ghosts have their own responsibilities to the school, no matter that they are Ghosts. One of those responsibilities is making sure that students aren't lost, and that students are in their dorms or Common Rooms at night, where they are supposed to be. They take up the Prefects and teacher patrol rounds after about ten, so the Prefects and teachers can get some sleep for classes the next day." He said. "The fact that the Baron did not assist you..." He scowled and started adding to his own letter.

 **(** **Ron looked at his watch and...** **told us about, and used it on you.")**

"I love that curse." Ginny said happily. All those who were in the DA or Gryffindor tower with her at some point subtly moved away from her. She was terrifying with that curse. Molly frowned at the thought of her baby using spells like that.

Although, she mused, every young girl needed to know a good curse or two to keep unwanted boys away from them. Some boys just didn't understand that 'no means NO'.

 **(Hermione opened her mouth, perhaps... use the Curse of the Bogies,)**

Hermione turned red, and everyone laughed. That was exactly what she was going to do. Even before they became friends and started hanging out together, Harry already knew her.

 **(but Harry hissed at her to be...** **up a staircase to the third floor)**

"Wait a minute, UP a staircase? Shouldn't that be down? I thought the Gryffindor Common Room was up in one of the Towers." Draco said, confused.

Harry shrugged. "Yeah, well, to get to the Trophy Room from the Common Room the normal way, you have to go down a couple of flights of stairs to reach another staircase, then go up again to reach another staircase, then go down a few more, then up one more to reach the third floor. That's why Gryffindor's tend to know the castle better than anyone, because we tend the ignore the normal routes and take whatever shortcuts or secret passageways we find. Since the normal routes are so long and winding, and confusing. We kind of have to know the castle if we expect to get anywhere in a timely manner." He said.

"Which makes more sense if you look at this way." Remus began. "Godric Gryffindor was known for his battle prowess, for being a Battle Mage. And, if the castle were ever attacked, Gryffindor's students were the ones expected to respond to the alarms first. In order for that to happen, they had to know the castle inside and out in order to get there in time. So, Gryffindor deliberately made the path to his students living area long and confusing to force his students to explore."

"I take it his portrait told you that, too?" Draco asked, jealous that they had their Founder's portrait. They all nodded. Every Gryffindor, without fail for centuries, had asked Godric why, why did he make the route so confusing and long.

"That was his explanation, anyway. Personally, I think he was just being a sadistic jerk when he did it." Sirius said with a shrug. The other Lions nodded in agreement with that, too.

 **(and tiptoed toward the trophy room.**

 **Malfoy and Crabbe weren't there yet.)**

Severus eyes narrowed and he took in his godson's form, shrunk down into the couch. Either Draco was waiting to ambush, therefore completely dishonoring his family, or he didn't even show up, completely dishonoring his family.

 **(The crystal trophy cases glimmered... silver and gold in the darkness.)**

"You know what I don't get?" Hermione suddenly asked. "Why don't students who win something, get to take it home with them? Why does it just sit in a room at Hogwarts gathering dust instead of being displayed on their fireplace mantel, or in their bedroom. I mean, nobody ever goes in there unless its to clean or, ah, well." She shrugged, glancing at the teachers. "This way, it seems more like a pat on the back, good job, and they don't even really have much to show for it."

"They are kept in the trophy room so other students can see their achievements." Dumbledore said with a frown, although he had to admit she did have something of a point. But, trophy's and the like were magically made, with certain enchantments woven in to make sure they couldn't be tampered with and altered, thereby stealing the recognition. It would be too expensive to make each and every student a trophy who won something.

Hermione shrugged. "Then, make one for the student to take home, and write down the achievement in a book, or use the _Gemino_ spell to make a copy of the trophy to place in there. But, I know that for Muggleborn parents, they would like to have something of their child's school years other than reports about our grades. Especially those Muggleborn who play Quidditch. Although, Muggleborns would need to have their's charmed or something so it will say something else to anyone who doesn't know about magic..." She trailed off in thought, and started writing it down.

Dumbledore leaned back in his seat, and watched her for a moment. The idea had merit...

 **(They edged along the walls, keeping...** **he's chickened out," Ron whispered.)**

Severus frowned, and glanced at his godson, inwardly gaping at what he was hearing. Draco was raised better than this, he was raised knowing exactly what a wizards duel entailed. And for him to not show up... it was the height of dishonor. He was very lucky that Harry and Ron hadn't spread word of this incident throughout the school. He might not have been able to protect him from the other Snakes, and then there would be the consequences when Lucius found out...

 **(Then a noise in the next room... someone speak -and it wasn't Malfoy.)**

Severus's eyes went wide as he suddenly realized what Draco must have done. Oh, this was so much worse than Draco just skipping out. This was so much worse.

"It is actions like this that puts Slytherin in such a bad light with the rest of the school." He hissed quietly in his ear.

 **("Sniff around, my sweet, they might be lurking in a corner.")**

Filius was livid. How dare that boy completely disregard all etiquette and teachings he had ever learned about formal duels! He turned to the younger Malfoy, "You, young man, are going to report to me after dinner, and we will... _review_ your dueling lessons that I know you had growing up." He said, softly and dangerously. _Draco_ nodded his head rapidly, satisfied he turned to the older one, "I can't believe that I am hearing of such a cowardly act from you, Mr. Malfoy." Draco gulped. After that, he turned back and stared at the book while everyone else stared at him, in awe and slight fear.

They'd never seen the half goblin so angry before...

 **(It was Filch speaking to Mrs. Norris.)**

"That's not good." Remus muttered while the twins started to moan in grief about the 'poor ickle firsties fate'.

"Code Black, code Black, code Black!" Sirius started calling until Remus rolled his eyes and slapped him upside the head, prompting the man to pout at him.

"What's code Black?" Harry asked, ignoring the twins.

To everyone's surprise, Remus turned bright red while Sirius started cackling. "It's nothing, don't worry about it." When he still refused to say anything, even silencing Sirius several times when he went to say it for him, they finally kept reading. The younger kids were disappointed, but decided to corner Sirius about it later. He seemed willing to tell them. Their hopes were dashed when Remus leaned over to Sirius before the book continued, and hissed with a glare. "Say anything, and I will tell them all about that time with Lily and the dog collar."

Sirius paled, but turned to the kids, "Sorry kids, but it isn't something you want to know." And refused to say anything else.

 **(Horror-struck, Harry waved madly... the door, away from Filch's voice.)**

A few people sat forward in anticipation, waiting to see if they made it out or not, even if the teachers continued to hold onto their stern and disapproving expressions.

 **(Neville's robes had barely... Filch enter the trophy room.)**

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. They were safe, and home-free now. The rest of the Five, however, remained on the edge of their seats. They weren't safe until they were back in their beds. Then, and only then were they truly safe. There was so much that could still go wrong between now and when they were in bed.

 **("They're in here somewhere," they...** **long gallery full of suits of armor.)**

"So far so good." Sirius muttered, and suddenly facepalmed. Now that he'd said that, something was going to go wrong.

"Sirius!" Several people groaned, he grinned sheepishly.

 **(They could hear Filch getting... out a frightened squeak)**

"Uh oh." The Twins muttered while the Marauders sighed in defeat.

"He panicked." Sirius muttered, planting his head into the couch behind him. Neville huffed, he did not squeak! But then turned red when he remembered what happened next.

 **(and broke into a run -he tripped... right into a suit of armor.)**

Sirius and Remus flinched. They and James had long since decided that the suits of armor main function wasn't defense. No, it was to be there for students just trying to have a bit of fun, mind, to trip over and get caught. There were many times when they nearly got caught because Peter just wasn't paying attention and ran into a suit of armor.

 **(The clanging and crashing were enough to wake the whole castle.)**

"Oh." Percy and the Twins both said.

"We were wondering what that was." The Twins continued while Neville turned bright red.

 **("RUN!" Harry yelled,)**

"Oh, you shouldn't have yelled. He would have blamed it on Peeves if he hadn't heard your voice." Remus said with a grimace.

Harry nodded mournfully. Filch had been watching him closely for a couple of weeks following this, making him put several good pranks on hold, especially when he learned one night that Filch was camped outside the Common Room, waiting for someone (most likely him) to leave to go cause some mayhem. He certainly learned.

And, everyone was back on the edge of their seats, waiting to see if they made it back safely.

 **(and the four of them sprinted... around the doorpost and galloped)**

"Another horse reference." Ginny muttered, thinking of the one from the opening feast. She got a couple of strange looks.

 **(down one corridor then another... was miles from the trophy room.)**

"That's good, now don't stop moving. Filch knows the castle better than almost anyone." Sirius urged, not wanting his godson to get caught, since he clearly hadn't gotten caught this year yet. No need to break that track record.

 **("I think we've lost him," Harry... wall and wiping his forehead.)**

 _Harry_ grimaced. " _ **Just a few weeks without being chased, and your already out of shape."**_ He accused. **_"What happens when you go back to the Dursleys the next summer and he catches you because you were out of shape?"_** He demanded. Harry grimaced, honestly, he hadn't thought of that...

 ** _"Well, I guess it's a good thing he mostly left me alone that next summer."_** Harry said sheepishly. _Harry_ narrowed his eyes at his older self, but decided that he would find out later once they finished this book. In the meantime, he decided while they were here that he was going to stay in shape. He spent too long running just to lose all that just because he could do magic now.

Sirius narrowed his eyes at his boys, but didn't say anything.

 **(Neville was bent double, wheezing and spluttering.)**

 _Harry_ grimaced. That usually only made it worse. You never bend over to catch your breath, he'd found that out the hard way.

 **(I - told -you," Hermione gasped... chest, "I - told - you.")**

"That... is not the time." Sirius, Remus, and the Weasley twins all said, while everybody else looked at her like she suddenly sprouted antlers... again. She turned bright red.

 **("We've got to get back... Ron, "quickly as possible.")**

"And hope that the Fat Lady is back." Ginny muttered, which made the four Gryffindor's that were out that night grimace. They were more concerned at that moment with at least being in their territory. They would have that way at least been able to claim they were in the Maze late... except of course for the fact that three of them were still dressed for bed. Although, at the same time, as long as the other three kept their mouths shut, Harry would have been able to claim that they'd already been ready for bed when they remembered an assignment due the next day and went to the Maze to finish it real quick.

 **("Malfoy tricked you," Hermione said... must have tipped him off.")**

Filius growled at the reminder. There was Slytherin cunning, and then there was sheer stupidity. This- this was sheer stupidity.

"Again, so not the time." Sirius muttered again, becoming interested in what Harry had started to draw now. A picture of a three-headed dog. Why was he drawing a Cerberus? When on earth did he meet a Cerberus to be able to draw it in such detail? The more he saw, the more he thought that Harry might be so much happier being an artist for a living, and not an Auror. As it was mentioned several times now, people wanted him to be. Well, unless this was just a hobby, of course.

 **(Harry thought she was... wasn't going to tell her that.)**

A huff was heard followed by the sound of an arm being smacked, everyone else just rolled their eyes as the book continued.

 **("Let's go."**

 **It wasn't going... front of them.**

 **It was Peeves.)**

"Oh, tough luck little firsties." Fred said with a grimace, speaking to the book.

"Yeah, none of you have the needed experience to deal with him yet." Remus winced. Harry sighed, but nodded in agreement, he hadn't quite figured out how to deal with the Poltergeist yet by this point. It didn't take him much long, though.

It never took anybody long to figure out how to handle Peeves. Although most people took the route of threatening him with the Baron.

 **(He caught sight of them and...** **\- please - you'll get us thrown out.")**

Sirius tutted while the Twins pretended to be wounded by the inexperience. "Harry, Harry, Harry," Harry suffered from a momentary flashback of a blond wizard with teeth that glittered too much, "That is just guaranteed to make him do something that your not going to like." Sirius chided, looking like a stern parent, although the twitching of his lips gave him away. Harry pouted.

"Aw, come on, it's only like, the second week of school! This is the first time running into him at night, I'd managed to avoid him before that!" Harry said, actually proud of that.

"Ah, well, then, I suppose I can let it go this time. However, I expect to see better performance out of you, young man, so you better be taking notes." He said sternly to _Harry_. The teachers called out discouragement, the last thing the school needed was for Sirius Black to encourage Harry Potter. The boy got into enough mischief as it was without it.

"Sirius Black! You will not encourage this kind of behavior! This is why..." Whatever else Molly was going to say was cut off by a pale Arthur as he Silenced her rant. He just knew that she was going to say something, and Harry was not going to be happy, if the sudden glare on his face was anything to go by.

Dumbledore stared at them and suddenly felt like hiding under his desk for the next seven years. Maybe he could use that to get Sirius' custody revoked...? That he didn't want his school to be torn down...? It was worth a try. Although, sadly he didn't think it would work.

 **(Peeves cackled.**

 **"Wandering around...** **don't give us away, Peeves, please.")**

"No amount of saying 'please' will work on him." The twins snorted. Nobody noticed the wicked smirk on Harry's face, since he covered it up with his drawing pad. He had long since cowed Peeves, all it took was a look from him.

 **("Should tell Filch, I should," said... "It's for your own good, you know.")**

Sirius barked a laugh. "He won't tell Filch anything. He might yell, but as long as your not stupid enough to stick around afterward, your safe." He informed the room. The rest of the Five smirked in agreement. The teachers groaned, and looked at the younger kids, before promptly deciding that it was their younger selves problem, they didn't want to deal with it.

 **("Get out of the way," snapped Ron...** **BED DOWN THE CHARMS CORRIDOR")**

"Now you want to run, before Filch gets there. Now that Peeves has yelled, he'll know that you got away, and he'll quit for the night." Sirius advised sagely.

Dudley was honestly wondering how on earth none of them were worried about being caught, but the more he listened to their comments, the more he understood that they knew what to do in situations where a ghost is yelling where you were for anybody to come find you. And that thought was very, very strange in his head.

 **(Ducking under Peeves, they... slammed into a door - and it was locked.)**

"Wait a minute, the Charms corridor is on the third floor." Ginny said suddenly, eyes narrowing in thought.

"Yes, and?" Remus asked.

"There's only one door that's locked on the third floor this year, and its forbidden." She said, eyes widening in realization.

"Awesome! We can finally find out some of what's going on!" Sirius said, happy to be getting answers, but also concerned that his godson was about to be in very real danger. And not from Filch.

Percy noticed the Twins disinterest in what was behind the door, "I'm surprised you two aren't saying anything." He said suspiciously.

"Oh, we already know." Fred said dismissively.

"Yeah, although we are curious as to what exactly was going on." George agreed.

"And how, do you already know?" Their mother asked dangerously.

"Keep reading!" They called, they were still not happy with her about the other day.

Nobody seemed to realize how the teachers suddenly went tense, or how Hagrid whispered, 'So that's how they found out.'

 **("This is it!" Ron moaned, as... done for! This is the end!")**

The Twins sighed. "And here we thought Harry was the dramatic one." They moaned.

"Oi!" "Hey!"

A few people laughed at their antics.

 **(They could hear footsteps, Filch..** **. She grabbed Harry's wand,)**

"Hey!" The wizard-raised protested. Even Ron and Neville, they hadn't seen this happening.

Ollivander looked scandalized. "You never just grab somebody else's wand! You also never just hand it over to anybody just because! For one, it is rude to just take it. For another, a person's wand is an extension of themselves. There is a reason why I am constantly arguing with the Ministry about there standard practice for handling criminals wands. If you are allowed to handle another person's wand, it is considered to be a sign of great trust!" He scolded with a stern glare on his face.

Hermione looked surprised, and _Hermione_ was going to say something about that being silly, when Pomona whispered in her ear, "Think of it like this, if you were to disrobe in front of somebody for some reason. You would only do so in front of people you trusted to not take advantage. It is the same thing." Her eyes went wide, and she closed her mouth.

She had a lot to learn about this world, everytime she thought she had it figured out, she was proven wrong.

 **(tapped the lock, and whispered, 'Alohomora!")**

Remus frowned, but didn't say anything.

 **(The lock clicked and the... their ears against it, listening.)**

"Ah, you kids probably should have checked to make sure the room was safe," Sirius said with a grimace. "But, on the other hand, adrenaline was pumping." He shrugged.

 **("Which way did they go, Peeves?" Filch was saying. "Quick, tell me."**

 **"Say 'please."')**

Sirius and Remus snorted. "He won't say anything." They said.

 **("Don't mess with me, Peeves...** **in his annoying singsong voice.)**

"I hate it when he talks like that." Neville grumbled. Remus nodded in agreement, that voice was awful when you were the next victim.

"You can tell he spends a lot of time with the Baron, though." Severus muttered. As much as Peeves didn't like it, there were times when something was going on, and the Baron literally tied them together so that the Poltergeist was where the Baron could see him at all times, and know he wasn't getting into any trouble. Like for the Triwizard Tournament, Peeves spent a lot of time at the Baron's side. Mostly right around the times for the tasks, and the Yule Ball, but there were times when he started to get out of control and the Baron put the leash back on him.

 **("All right -please.")**

"You would think he would stop falling for it by now."

"I'm starting to think that maybe Filch and Peeves enjoy antagonizing each other." Somebody muttered.

 **("NOTHING! Ha haaa! Told you...** **we'll be okay - get off, Neville!")**

"What now?" Sirius muttered, frowning.

"You know, you really should be more aware, and pay attention when people are trying to get your attention!" Neville scolded Harry, who put his sketchpad down and held his hands up in surrender, a small grin on his face.

 **(For Neville had been tugging...** **sure he'd walked into a nightmare-)**

The teasing and light atmosphere from those who were unaware what was coming disappeared. People finally noticed the tension among the teachers.

Sirius swallowed and crushed his boys against his side, not wanting to let go of them while book-Harry was in danger.

 **(this was too much, on top of...** **forbidden corridor on the third floor.)**

If it were possible, the teachers grew even more tense, making the others start to almost panic.

Sirius tightened his grip on his boys, and Remus shuffled closer to _Harry._

Molly was looking at her boys, worried. Her twins had admitted to already knowing what was in there before Harry and Ron found themselves in there, they only looked mildly concerned, but still...

Fred and George were a little more than mildly concerned. They knew how to handle a Cerberus, they had done their research after finding the animal before they ever tried to go down the trapdoor, but their brothers and friends didn't. And, they were trapped between it and Filch. What a lovely combination.

 **(And now they knew why it...** **ceiling and floor. It had three heads.)**

"A Cerberus." Molly whispered in shock. She turned to the teachers. "What was a Cerberus doing there?! Everyone knows that the only people they don't attack on sight is their owners!" She screeched.

The teachers looked alarmed and immediately pointed at Albus, completely taking the blame off their shoulders.

Albus paled when she turned on him. One thing that you never want to do, is do something that could possibly put any Weasley clan member in danger... and then let Molly Weasley hear about it. "Now, Molly, the door was locked, the students shouldn't have even been there."

"Don't pin this on them! That dog shouldn't even be in that school in the first place!" Remus growled, he was struggling right now to try and keep his wolf under control. All it had heard, was that his cub had been in danger, and this man was the cause. And the wolf was extra-protective with two of Cub in the room with him. Dumbledore paled when he saw the werewolf struggling.

 _Harry_ felt like his ribs were about to be crushed from the strong hold Sirius had on him, and his leg was going numb from Remus strong grip. Harry was a little more resigned to Sirius' tight grip, and also enjoying it. Everyone else was fuming, but they also wanted to get this chapter over with so they could hear about them escaping.

"Agreed!" Molly said, this was one of the few times she agreed with Remus about something involving her boys that didn't involve their grades when he taught them for that one year.

"Albus had his reasons." Severus said bitterly. He put all the students in danger with that little trap, letting Voldemort near the students like he had, putting Harry in danger when he knew that Severus had sworn on his magic to protect the boy, and that if he found out he was in danger... The vow he took had not taken kindly to his inaction whenever he found out Harry had been in danger after the fact.

"And they were reasons none of us agreed with." Minerva added when the Weasleys and Neville turned to Severus in disbelief.

"Reasons that I still don't know. Even now, years later." Pomona said, and Filius nodded in agreement with her. They never were told why they were setting up those obstacles for the Stone.

 _Harry_ finally had enough and had to get his godfather to loosen his grip before a few ribs really _did_ crack under the pressure. He could feel them creaking even now.

 **(Three pairs of rolling, mad eyes...** **in slippery ropes from yellowish fangs.)**

Neville shuddered, he'd had nightmares about that for weeks after this. Ginny reached over and pulled him into a hug while Luna hummed under her breath beside him. Molly and Arthur got Ron up and marched him to sit in between them, instead, while Sirius hugged his boys even tighter to him and Remus' grip became tighter on _Harry's_ leg.

"That thing looked hungry." Hermione whispered. She noticed idly that the younger _Trio_ all looked terrified of possibly coming across this thing.

Draco looked disturbed. After all, they wouldn't have been there if he hadn't set Filch after them. Severus was pale. He hadn't known about this. If Harry had gotten hurt and he hadn't known about this... He would have been in for a rough few nights, to say the least. He was the boys protector, he was supposed to know about stuff like this! He also knew just how painful those fangs were in your leg!

Everyone was worried, and sitting on the edge of their seats, wanting to know that they made it out alive. The Dursley's had either fainted or were gaping in shock and horror at what they were hearing, while the Dudley's were in awe of what they were hearing. After all, Cerberus is in Muggle myths, and to think that they really existed...

 **(It was standing quite still, all... appearance had taken it by surprise,)**

"That's a very good assessment of the situation, lad." Moody said, staring at Albus with his magical eye while his real one focused on what he was writing. Albus eyed the parchment in his hand warily. Whatever he was writing, could not be good for him. Sirius and Remus both sounded like wounded animals.

 **(but it was quickly getting... those thunderous growls meant.)**

"It was very loud..." Harry muttered, while everyone flinched after the book imitated the sounds Fluffy was making. Hagrid was pale, he knew that Fluffy was about to attack, that was his job, after all.

Hagrid was the only one he wouldn't attack, because Hagrid was the one who trained him, who owned him. And, because he had orders to attack whoever came in that wasn't Hagrid.

 **(Harry groped for the doorknob - between Filch and death, he'd take Filch.)**

It got a few chuckles out of the tense group, but a few shook their heads or glared fondly. Only Harry would be making snarky remarks in a situation like this. Remus growled, he didn't like his cub making light of the situation.

 **(They fell backward - Harry slammed... between them and that monster.)**

"Don't blame you." Was muttered throughout the room.

 **(They didn't stop running until they...** **and their flushed, sweaty faces.)**

"Yeah, kind of obvious they weren't in the Maze." Fred said with a grimace.

"I don't know, they could have been in one of the exercise rooms. Or the dueling room." George said with a shrug.

"At, what would it have been by this point, one in the morning?" Percy asked his brothers dryly.

"Sure, its an excellent way to get to sleep on nights when you don't feel the least bit tired." Charlie said cheerfully. He himself made much use of the dueling and exercise rooms when he couldn't sleep. Bill nodded his agreement.

"You have exercise rooms?" Draco asked, that would be so helpful for Quidditch, especially in bad weather! No wonder Gryffindor was so good, they could practice whenever without having to use the field!

"Yeah, Wood would never let us use them during bad weather though, and he did have a point. If we practiced inside all the time, then we wouldn't be able to work well outside." Harry said absently.

"Especially in bad weather." The Twins said. Draco frowned, but admitted their point.

 **("Never mind that - pig snout...** **like that locked up in a school?")**

"That's what I would like to know." Sirius said, frowning at the staff. Moody was frowning at Albus, wondering what on earth his friend was up to.

"Forget that for a second, what I want to know is why the only thing separating that dog and students is a first year unlocking charm." Remus said, frowning at the staff himself. He was still trying to bring the wolf back under control, it was happier that Cub was now out of danger, but still. The Heads of House froze, and then paled like they hadn't even thought about that.

"Hagrid needs to get in to feed him somehow." Albus said, frowning at Remus as if it should be obvious. "Besides, I warned the students not to go up there. There should be no need to put a stronger lock on the door."

"You warning the students that there was a forbidden corridor is exactly why there should be a stronger lock on the door!" Most of the pranksters all yelled. Honestly, the Twins specifically went up there to check it out BECAUSE it was forbidden. They'd even gone down the trap-door to see what was going on, they'd found the obstacle course pretty fun, if a little easy to be honest, even if the lack of a prize at the end was disappointing. They decided not to mention that with their mother present. Especially since she was already unhappy about them knowing about the Cerberus beforehand.

"Besides, we all know that Hagrid can still use his wand, its in his umbrella..." Harry trailed off, looking thoughtful, then he glanced at Albus' sleeve where the Elder Wand was hidden suspiciously, before he continued. "So, put a stronger lock that students couldn't get around, and teach Hagrid the spell." He concluded, still eyeing the Elder Wand in suspicion.

Severus and Minerva both started to furiously add to their lists, making sure their younger selves knew that if Fluffy was going to be in the school, then they needed to make sure that a first year spell wasn't all it took to open the door. If Hagrid really needed to get in, then he could find somebody to unlock the door for him. Or, better yet, they could not have Fluffy in the school at all! That would be even better. But, sadly, they knew that Albus was stubborn.

 **(said Ron finally. "If any dog needs exercise, that one does.")**

"Yeah, hey. Did that dog ever get out and get some exercise? Because..." Harry asked, and then trailed off.

Hagrid growled, actually growled, while glaring a little at the Headmaster. "I tried to let him out to run at least once a week. Albus wouldn't hear about it." Honestly, he loved the Headmaster. The man had done much for him over the years, and he would always be loyal, but there were a few things the Headmaster did over the years, mostly things regarding his treatment of Harry or some of his animals that he didn't agree with. He actually prided himself on at least being able to keep his disagreements (few that they were) with the Headmaster away from the students eyes. It was probably the only thing he hadn't let slip over the years that he wasn't supposed to.

Everyone looked at Hagrid in shock. They had never seen him even remotely annoyed with the Headmaster before, he always did what Albus asked without question, after all.

 **(Hermione had got both her... "Didn't you see what it was standing on.")**

"I think the boys were a little more occupied with the three heads." Remus said, _still_ trying to calm down before he went crazy on Albus for putting such a dangerous animal near his cub without proper safety measures in place.

Hermione turned red, "I was too scared to look up, so I focused on its feet." She confessed.

"Perfectly understandable." Neville said seriously. Sirius was a little sad that she was scared of the dog, but thought that maybe she would be fine with Padfoot...? He would talk to her later. If she was one of Harry's best friends and most trusted, then he didn't want to make things uncomfortable for her.

 **("The floor?" Harry suggested... too busy with its heads.")**

"Understandable." Severus grimaced. Those heads were hard to keep track of.

"Thank you!" Ron said, pointing to him and then looking at Hermione triumphantly. They'd actually been bickering over that for years. Not seriously, mind, but still. Harry rolled his eyes.

He was just glad Sirius had finally loosened his grip. Molly grumbled darkly and glared at the Headmaster again.

 **("No, not the floor. It was standing... obviously guarding something.")**

The Heads of House groaned and glared at nothing. They could see that adding Hermione's intelligence with the chaotic and curious mind of Harry, wasn't necessarily a good thing.

 **(She stood up, glaring at them...** **have been killed - or worse, expelled.)**

"Uh, I'm pretty sure that's backwards..." Remus muttered, eyeing Hermione, who turned red. The teachers all blinked. They knew the girl was serious about her schooling, but seriously?

"Besides, they would have gotten away scot-free if Neville hadn't panicked." Fred said, shrugging.

 **(Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to bed."**

 **Ron stared after her, his mouth open.)**

"You know, I think I actually missed this conversation..." Neville said, tilting his head to the side, trying to think back.

"You were staring into the fire, shaking. I had to practically carry you to bed." Harry informed him. "I just couldn't get your attention."

"Oh." Neville frowned.

 **("No, we don't mind," he said...** **about as he climbed back into bed.)**

"Uh-oh." The teachers muttered. Harry smiled innocently.

Not that anybody in the room believed that innocent smile.

 **(The dog was guarding something...** **vault seven hundred and thirteen was.)**

"And there starts the rule breaking and getting into business that doesn't concern students." Severus muttered, glaring at the boy in question, who had the nerve to simply smile at him as if he were an innocent little angel. Severus scowled. The other teachers grumbled about him being too curious for his own good.

"Next chapter!" Ron said a minute later, trying to derail Severus from going on a rant. And keeping the adults from sending them out of the room so they could have a nice, long _discussion_ with the Headmaster.

 **Chapter ten: Halloween**


End file.
